The UN Security Council voted on Thursday to remove Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara from the world body’s sanctions list, though veto-wielding China abstained.
Washington had pressed the 15-member council to adopt the resolution for months as part of its broader effort to ease restrictions on Syria. The resolution, which also lifted sanctions on Syria’s Interior Minister Anas Khattab, passed with 14 votes in favour.
Mr Al Shara is expected to visit Washington for a meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday – his first visit since assuming the presidency after Syria’s civil war.
Formerly affiliated with Al Qaeda, Mr Shara's Hayat Tahrir Al Sham group was delisted as a terrorist organisation by Washington in July.
Since assuming power, Syria’s leadership has worked to distance itself from its extremist roots, striving to project a more moderate image to ordinary Syrians and the international community.
US ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz told council members that Syria is “working hard to fulfil its commitments on countering terrorism and narcotics, on eliminating any remnants of chemical weapons, and on promoting regional security and stability, as well as an inclusive, Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process”.
China said it abstained because the measure did not “adequately reflect the principles” it has long advocated on Syria’s sovereignty and counter-terrorism efforts.
“China’s position has been loud and clear from the very beginning,” said Fu Cong, the Chinese ambassador to the UN.
Mr Fu said the council should have taken into “full account the counter-terrorism and security situation in Syria, the complex potential impact of such adjustments and the long-term interests and actual needs of Syria".
He said China had “actively participated” in negotiations and raised “legitimate concerns about counter-terrorism issues, in particular foreign terrorist fighters in Syria".
“However, the sponsor [the US] did not fully heed the views of all members,” he said, accusing Washington of pushing the vote “to serve its own political agenda” despite “huge differences among council members".
The US has long argued that easing sanctions on Damascus is essential to support regional stability after more than a decade of war.
Maya Ungar, UN analyst at the International Crisis Group, told The National that the sticking point for China"was a permanent delisting of Al Shara and Khattab".
“The Chinese have long been pushing for sanctions to be eased instead of lifted in the Syrian context," Ms Ungar said.
"They want benchmarks and reviews of exemptions to be able to use the sanctions as leverage to influence the government's engagement with foreign fighters, particularly Etim [East Turkestan Islamic Movement], a Uighur militant group with close ties to the Syrian authorities."
She said Washington had made “a number of changes, including adding a sentence noting Syria’s need to address the threat posed by foreign fighters, to try to appeal to the Chinese".
But those revisions, Ms Ungar said, were more likely intended to prevent a Chinese veto than to win Beijing’s support for the resolution.
