Right, so Benjamin Netanyahu has a problem. Yes, another one, absolute rotten shame really isn’t it?
Donald Trump has just pulled Syria off America’s terror-state list, handing it a golden ticket back into trade and diplomacy that Israel now cannot destroy, no matter how many jets they send or how many times Netanyahu tries to order an airstrike as if he’s calling for pizza.
Washington has taken Syria off America’s terror-state list. It has removed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, HTS, the unelected Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s bunch of Al-Qaeda castoffs from a separate sanctions blocklist. Yet on the very same day, Israeli troops were still entering southern Syria and Israeli aircraft were still circling overhead.
So Israel can keep sending in the troops and it can keep making big holes in the road courtesy of an explosion or two, but one of the biggest weapons in Netanyahu’s Syria squeeze has just been taken away from him and it’s the same thing he’s failed at with regards to Iran as well.
Isolation.
Now, I know. US Treasury sanctions. Nobody has ever burst into a pub shouting, 'Drop your pints, lads, the Office of Foreign Assets Control just dropped an administrative update!' The only thing less exciting would be a live reading of the US tax code.
But this one counts for a bit more than just being yawned over.
The State Department formally removed Syria’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.
It also revoked the Specially Designated Global Terrorist listing covering HTS and al-Nusrah, the Syrian arm of Al-Qaeda as that basically was and removed HTS from the Treasury sanctions blocklist.
That means Americans no longer require specific Treasury permission to transact with HTS, provided no other sanctioned person or prohibited activity is involved. Yes, I’m sure these fine and upstanding Syrian citizens will definitely all be on the level now and there won’t be anything to see here honest guv.
