Syria's Sharaa met pro-Israel Congressman in bid to repeal Caesar sanctions

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa met on Sunday with Republican Brian Mast as part of a push to repeal the US Caesar sanctions ahead of his visit to the White House.

The pro-Israel congressman from Florida has emerged as the chief impediment to Congress’s repeal of the 2019 Caesar Act, a law named after a Syrian defector whose evidence and testimony of widespread human rights violations led to crippling economic penalties on Syria before the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's government.

US President Donald Trump vowed in May to lift all sanctions on Syria.

In June, he issued a 180-day waiver of the Caesar sanctions. However, the law remains on the books and can only be repealed in full by Congress.

Businesspeople and diplomats say that keeping the Caesar sanctions in limbo is deterring investment at a time when Syria’s economy is stalling.

The World Bank estimates Syria’s reconstruction cost at $200bn. While Gulf states have pledged investments in Syria, those deals have been slow to materialise, in part because of the lingering Caesar sanctions.

Two US officials familiar with the matter previously told Middle East Eye that Mast was responding to a lobbying push by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s advisor, Ron Dermer, to keep the sanctions on Syria.

Mast is a veteran of the US Army who lost both his legs in Afghanistan after stepping on an improvised explosive device. He later volunteered to serve in the Israeli military and often wears an Israeli army uniform inside Congress. 

Israel took advantage of Assad’s downfall to occupy a United Nations buffer zone in southern Syria and launched powerful air strikes that reached the capital, Damascus, over the summer.

'Meeting is the message': On US visit, Syria's Sharaa eyes boost against Israel, SDF and sanctions

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Israel is digging in on Syria’s Mount Hermon, the highest peak in the region. It has also sought to portray itself as a defender of Syria’s Druze minority by backing Druze leader Sheikh Hikmat Salaman al-Hajri with arms, experts say.

Over the summer, when fighting broke out between Druze and Bedouins, Israel prevented Sharaa from deploying his mainly Sunni security forces to the south. The intervention upset Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the Trump administration.

One person familiar with the meeting between Mast and Sharaa said it was arranged by supporters of US President Donald Trump.

Sharaa’s visit to the White House is being closely tracked by Tom Barrack, Trump’s billionaire friend and envoy to Syria. The White House is pressing Congress to lift the sanctions.

Although Congress is not in session because of a government shutdown, the House and Senate are working on an amendment to the 2026 Defence Act to repeal the sanctions. Some had hoped it could be ready by the time Sharaa and Trump met.

Mouaz Moustafa, the head of the Syrian Emergency Task Force who is spearheading the push to repeal Caesar, a law his group originally helped author, said there needs to be a “clear-cut repeal” in order for Gulf states and western companies to have confidence in investing.

“If there is any hint of a snapback, no company is going to move into Syria. That is what Netanyahu wants and President Donald Trump is against,” Moustafa told MEE for an earlier article.