Syria lobbies reluctant US congressman to lift sanctions

President Ahmad Al Shara meets influential committee chairman Brian Mast

Brian Mast, House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, met Asaad Al Shibani, Syria’s Foreign Minister, and later President Ahmad Al Shara for talks in Washington. Getty Images via AFP

President Ahmad Al Shara of Syria on Monday met a powerful US congressman whose support is crucial for lifting sanctions, Syrian sources said.

The meeting with Brian Mast, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee, was aimed at convincing him to drop his opposition to the unconditional lifting of the Caesar Act, which contains the bulk of sanctions on Syria, the sources said.

Mr Al Shara is on a landmark visit to Washington. His meeting with US President Donald Trump on Monday at the White House is unprecedented for a leader of modern Syria, which was in the orbit of Iran and Russia for decades.

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“Mr Mast showed a bigger enthusiasm towards lifting the sanctions on Syria,” said Tarek Kteleh, a member of the Syrian-American Alliance for Peace and Prosperity, a group of mainly Syrian expatriates in Washington, which has been lobbying US-Syria relations to be established.

There was no immediate comment from Mr Mast. He wants to tie the lifting of sanctions to guarantees that the Syrian government will protect its minorities, with the possibility of sanctions being reimposed if their rights are infringed upon, other Syrian sources in Washington say.

A lobbyist in Washington, who is Syrian, said the government in Damascus had underestimated the influence Mr Mast yields. He pointed out that Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani and other Syrian officials met US politicians in September, but not Mr Mast. The Republican from Florida is said to be “not convinced“ by Christian clergymen's words of support for Mr Al Shara's government.

Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara, right, and Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani met members of the Syrian diaspora in Washington. Photo: Syrian Presidency

On Sunday, US envoy Tom Barrack told a Syrian audience in Washington he had arranged and attended a meeting between Mr Al Shibani and Mr Mast on Saturday.

"My boss [Mr Trump] wants to give Syria a chance," Mr Barrack said, according to a source who attended the meeting. While Mr Trump has waived sanctions by presidential order, a permanent repeal still requires a vote in the House of Representatives.

Mr Barrack did not give further details of the meeting with Mr Mast, a Republican from Florida. He was speaking during a meeting between Mr Al Shara and members of the Syrian diaspora in Washington at which Mr Al Shibani was also present.

The new government in Syria is led by prominent figures from Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS), a former splinter group of Al Qaeda that ousted the regime of president Bashar Al Assad in December.

Washington severed diplomatic ties with Syria over the Assad regime's crackdown on an uprising in March 2011. That developed into civil war, in which HTS and its predecessors eliminated rival rebel groups and became the only formidable anti-regime formation in the country.

Summer clashes between Syrian forces and the Druze minority raised concerns about Ahmad Al Shara and his government's ability to unite the country. Reuters

A vote in the US House of Representatives is pending on legislation that includes the removal of sanctions on Syria, imposed under the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019.

Government offensives in March and June in Alawite and Druze regions, in which hundreds of civilians were killed, had contributed to Mr Mast's scepticism of blank-cheque support for Mr Trump's Syria policy, the source who attended the meeting said.

Mr Mast told The Hill last week his concerns over the repeal of the Caesar Act "should be obvious to anyone following the situation in Syria".

Syria lobbyists in Washington have been arguing the conditions on the lifting of sanctions would hinder investment in the country because the chances of them being reinstated would create uncertainty for potential financiers.