Lawmakers have voted to repeal the 2019 Caesar Civilian Protection Act, ending a far-reaching sanctions regime that broadly targeted any entity providing goods or services to Syria’s government, the Financial Times reported.

The repeal was approved as part of the US government’s annual defense policy bill, a sweeping package authorizing defense, foreign policy and intelligence spending across the government. President Donald Trump is expected to sign it into law, according to the FT.

Prior to the passage of the repeal, Trump issued two six-month waivers of the Caesar sanctions, including one last month after Syria’s president, former rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, visited Washington. Administration officials have characterized the law, originally enacted to target the since-ousted Assad regime, as a hindrance to Syria’s stabilization. 

The United Nations has estimated Syria will require more than $200 billion for reconstruction, including rebuilding damaged infrastructure, clearing unexploded ordnance and expanding access to food and medical care, the FT reported. 

While temporary waivers have helped, “serious investors and partners will not commit billions under continued uncertainty, which is why Congress moved forward with full repeal,” Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the New Hampshire Democrat who sponsored the repeal, told the news outlet.  

Shaheen added that helping Syrians rebuild could also blunt Iran’s ability to exploit a weak state and reduce operating space for ISIS.

Even as lawmakers moved to remove the Caesar sanctions, Trump included Syrians in a proclamation expanding the list of foreign nationals subject to a blanket U.S. entry ban. The FT said the proclamation cited concerns that postwar Syria “still lacks an adequate central authority” to issue passports, does not have appropriate screening and vetting measures, and that a small proportion of Syrians overstay their American visas. 

The repeal does not include “snapback” provisions that would automatically reimpose sanctions under certain conditions, a mechanism sought by some Republican opponents, according to the FT. 

Read more at the Financial Times