With Syria finally off the US terror blacklist, what will change?

For 47 years, Syria remained on one of Washington’s most restrictive blacklists. On Monday, Aug. 24, that chapter officially came to an end when the United States removed Syria from its list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, where it had been designated since December 1979. The move followed a 45-day congressional review period that ended without sufficient opposition to block President Donald Trump’s decision. “Today, Syria is ridding itself of a dark stain and tearing up, with its own hands, a painful page from its past,” Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa said, describing the decision as another step toward “development, reconstruction, and nation-building.” Washington, however, had already dismantled most of its economic sanctions regime against Syria more than a year earlier, while several foreign companies began announcing...