Syria Off US Terror List After 47 Years: How Ahmed al-Sharaa Went From $10 Million Bounty to Washington’s Big Bet

The United States first blacklisted Syria under Hafez al-Assad in 1979 and kept it there through Bashar al-Assad’s brutal rule. It has now removed the designation under a president who once led al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate. The decision could unlock banks, investment and a $216 billion reconstruction effort, but it also reveals the extraordinary risk Trump is taking on Syria’s reinvention