Washington calls on UN Security Council to ease sanctions against Syria

(Patria) - The United States on Monday called on the United Nations Security Council to adjust its sanctions against Syria to help the country's government win in what the acting US ambassador described as a "fight against terrorism", Al Arabiya reported.

After thirteen years of war, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad was overthrown in December in a lightning offensive by opposition forces led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group.

Formerly known as the Nusra Front, HTS was the official Al-Qaeda wing in Syria until it broke ties in 2016. Since May 2014, the group has been on the UN Security Council's sanctions list against Al-Qaeda and ISIS and is subject to a global asset freeze and arms embargo.

A number of HTS members are also under UN sanctions, such as travel bans, asset freezes, and arms embargoes, including its leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who is now the President of Syria.

The United States is working with Security Council members to review Syria-related sanctions, acting US Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea said on Monday.

"The Syrian government has clearly committed to fighting Al-Qaeda and ISIS, and both groups are equally clear that they oppose the new government and threaten to destroy it. Council members should not take these threats lightly," she said at a Security Council meeting on Syria.

"The Council can and must adjust its sanctions so that the Syrian government can win the fight against terrorism, while keeping the most dangerous and unrepentant actors on the list," she said.

US President Donald Trump announced a major shift in US policy in May when he said he would lift US sanctions on Syria.

United Nations sanctions monitors have not seen "active links" this year between Al-Qaeda and the new Syrian government, according to an unpublished UN report, a finding that could strengthen US pressure to ease some UN sanctions on Syria.