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Tens of 1000’s of Syrians flooded the streets of Damascus on Monday to mark the primary anniversary of the Assad regime’s collapse.
The celebrations got here a 12 months after former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad fled the capital as insurgent forces swept by the nation in a lightning offensive that ended 5 a long time of Assad household rule and opened a brand new chapter in Syrian historical past.
A wave of transformations and historic firsts has since redrawn Syria’s political panorama, culminating in a diplomatic breakthrough with the United States that noticed President Donald Trump host interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in an unprecedented White House go to.
The long-standing Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, considered because the United States’ most restrictive sanctions on Syria since its enactment in 2019, is on the verge of being rolled again, with a full repeal written into the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
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“Every Syrian is celebrating liberation and now celebrating the removing of the Caesar Act,” stated Mouaz Moustafa, the chief director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, who helped draft and title the unique invoice, in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“Caesar was shattering Syria’s financial system and Syria’s future, even when all the pieces else went effectively. And now, Syria has true hope. Today, with the primary anniversary of liberation, the best reward that the Syrian folks may have gotten is the lifting of the Caesar Act.”
The NDAA is slated for a vote within the House this week.
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As Syrians have fun the overthrow of Assad, the nation now faces the daunting job of rebuilding, from reconstruction and revitalizing the financial system to in search of justice for households nonetheless ready for solutions about family members forcibly disappeared by the regime.
People maintain portraits of relations killed or disappeared beneath the Assad regime throughout a mourning demonstration at Hijaz Station in Damascus on Dec. 27, 2024. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
Data from the Syrian Network for Human Rights point out that greater than 170,000 folks stay forcibly disappeared in Syria between March 2011 and August 2025, an awesome majority of whom have been held in former Assad regime detention facilities.
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Syria has additionally grappled with outbreaks of sectarian violence this 12 months, most notably in Sweida, the place Druze militias, Sunni Bedouin tribes and Syrian authorities forces engaged in violent clashes.
Syrian troopers assemble close to Sweida on July 15, 2025, as black smoke rises following lethal sectarian clashes within the southern province. (Stringer/Getty Images)
“There have been occasional clashes and atrocities. I word, and it is attention-grabbing, that this new President Ahmed al-Sharaa has placed on trial, publicly, on stay tv in Syria, greater than a dozen safety power members who’re charged with violating human rights, equivalent to extrajudicial killing and unlawful detention and torture,” stated former U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“If they’re convicted and held accountable, that might be outstanding. All the extra outstanding beneath the presidency of a person who was in al Qaeda.”
In July, the U.S. State Department formally revoked the international terrorist group designation of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamist group previously led by al-Sharaa.
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U.S. President Donald Trump is anticipated to fulfill with Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa on the White House. (BING GUAN/POOL/AFP by way of Getty Images; Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg by way of Getty Images)
Trump has met al-Sharaa, who can be recognized by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, 3 times since returning to the White House.
He has praised Syria’s new chief regardless of his previous and urged Israel to keep up a “sturdy and true dialogue” with Damascus amid Israeli floor incursions into southern Syria.
“We are doing all the pieces inside our energy to ensure the Government of Syria continues to do what was supposed, which is substantial, in an effort to construct a real and affluent Country,” stated Trump in a December Truth Social publish.
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“It is essential that Israel keep a robust and true dialogue with Syria, and that nothing takes place that may intervene with Syria’s evolution right into a affluent State.”
Wanted-style portraits of former Syrian President Bashar Assad are displayed in a coffeeshop window in Damascus on Dec. 7, 2025. (Hussein Malla/AP)
Al-Sharaa referred to as on the Russian authorities earlier this 12 months at hand over Assad — who was granted asylum in Moscow — to face justice for atrocities dedicated throughout his time in energy.
Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., a longtime advocate for the Syrian folks and a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, advised Fox News Digital in a press release that it is time for a brand new period in Syria.
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“The progress we have seen within the 12 months for the reason that fall of dictator Assad is unimaginable. Syria has reworked from a Putin puppet and Iranian regime ally to a accomplice of the United States, becoming a member of the coalition in opposition to ISIS and eradicating Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, and ISIS. Led by Ambassador Tom Barrack, beneath President Trump, we now have seized an historic alternative by supporting the efforts of President al-Sharaa and lifting crippling sanctions on Syria,” stated Wilson.
“There is progress to be made, however absent these daring and visionary actions to present Syria an opportunity, the nation would descend into factionalized chaos to be exploited by terrorists,” he stated. “Syria has a wealthy, multi-ethnic, and religiously pluralistic historical past. The folks suffered over half a century beneath sadistic socialist Assad.”
