Syria Sanctions Relief Act

The Syria Sanctions Relief Act would repeal two major U.S. sanctions regimes tied to the Syrian Arab Republic: (1) the Syria Human Rights Accountability Act of 2012 (as Title VII of the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012), and (2) the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019 (as Title LXXIV of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act). By removing these statutory authorities, the bill would eliminate the congressional basis for those particular Syria-related sanctions. The bill does not specify new sanctions or other policy changes, and it does not automatically remove all sanctions that might exist under other laws or executive actions; it only repeals the provisions within these two statutes. In short, the bill seeks to erase a significant part of the legal framework used to sanction Syria for human rights abuses and for actions linked to the Assad regime.