A window for US engagement with Syria has opened — but not for long

Syria stands at the edge of a new chapter. The Assad regime has fallen. A transitional government is in place. Borders have reopened, and more than 1 million refugees have returned home. According to the UN Refugee Agency, this is “a sign of the great hope and high expectations Syrians have following the political transition.” Since Bashar Assad fled to Moscow last December, Syria has begun to rebuild. An interim constitution is in place. Armed factions are being integrated into state institutions. Dialogue with regional and international partners has resumed. For the first time in years, American diplomats have returned to Damascus. On Sunday, Syrians made more history, heading to the polls in the first parliamentary elections since the transition began. They filled 210 seats through a mix of district representation and presidential appointments. Some regions remain unrepresented — including the Kurdish-led northeast and the Druze-controlled Sweida. There are fair questions about the inclusion of minorities and women. Still, the vote marks a clear break from the past and a tentative step toward a potentially vibrant political life. Call all this a window of opportunity or a honeymoon period. But if the United States does not engage soon — and with clarity — the moment will pass. What looks promising on the surface remains deeply fragile. Nearly half the country’s roads, schools, and hospitals are destroyed or unusable. Most areas receive only a few hours of electricity per day. Over half of Syria’s health and education facilities remain inoperable. More than 16 million people — over 70% of the population — depend on humanitarian aid. Farmers cannot plant. Clinics cannot restock. Teachers often go unpaid. The desire to rebuild exists. The means do not. Outdated sanctions are a major obstacle. The Caesar Act, passed to hold Assad’s regime accountable, achieved that goal. While the Trump administration has made moves to temporarily lift sanctions, ultimately Caesar remains in place, as if the regime still were. The result is a dangerous mismatch between U.S. policy and Syrian reality. Due to regulatory risks, American businesses are essentially barred from investing. Syrian Americans, like myself and many others who are eager to return and contribute, feel fundamentally blocked. Aid groups hesitate to scale up. Banks and financial institutions, wary of legal ambiguity, stay away. In many cases, fear of violating sanctions now does more to inhibit recovery than the sanctions themselves. “Syria is not asking for sympathy or aid. Syrians are asking for access — to capital, to opportunity, to dignity.” --— Last month, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa addressed this directly during a landmark visit to the U.N. General Assembly — the first Syrian leader to do so since 1967. Widely considered a successful trip, al-Sharaa — a former rebel leader whose forces toppled Assad in December — met with one-time adversaries and called on Washington to lift sanctions, a position supported by U.S. President Donald Trump. This is not a call to lift all restrictions. Sanctions targeting war crimes and corruption should remain in place. But broader economic constraints must be reassessed. Recovery cannot begin if the country remains frozen in the assumptions of a different era. If this moment collapses, it won’t be because Syrians failed. It will be because they were given no room to succeed. In a vacuum of basic services, alternative networks emerge — smugglers, militias, armed groups. Insecurity spreads. Hope disappears. Early signs of that regression are already visible. Syria is not asking for sympathy or aid. Syrians are asking for access — to capital, to opportunity, to dignity. This is a post-USAID world, and we know it. The honeymoon won’t last. If it fades without support, what follows may not be another dictatorship. It may be something harder to reverse — and harder to contain. The United States still has time to help shape what comes next. That means recalibrating sanctions, enabling responsible investment, and opening channels of engagement. It means listening to Syrians ready to lead — but unable to move forward unless the road ahead is cleared. This is a moment that calls for clarity, not caution. And the cost of doing nothing is already too high.