US Senate repeals Caesar Act amid intensified fight against IS in Syria

The US Senate on Wednesday approved the full and unconditional repeal of the Caesar Act, ending one of Washington’s most sweeping sanctions regimes against Syria, which was included in the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The bill passed the Senate by 77 votes to 20, following earlier approval in the House of Representatives, and will now be sent to President Donald Trump for signature. The repeal will take legal effect immediately upon ratification, while the broader defence legislation enters into force in January 2026.

The repeal permanently ends the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, under which the US imposed extensive economic sanctions on Damascus but drawn-up to target Assad-era officials. Activists in Syria have called for the end of the sanctions regime after the fall of the Assad regime, saying it's hindering the country's post-war development.

The move follows earlier decisions by the Trump administration to lift other sanctions on Syria and remove the country from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism.

The Caesar Act, which entered into force in mid-2020, was among the strongest sanctions frameworks imposed on Syria. Its origins date back to 2014, when a military police photographer, later identified as Farid Al-Madhan, defected and leaked tens of thousands of images documenting the torture and deaths of detainees in the custody of the regime of Bashar al-Assad, including women and children.

The law was ultimately signed by Trump during his first term in December 2019, after earlier legislative attempts failed.

The Senate vote came amid renewed US military activity in Syria and heightened security tensions following a deadly attack earlier this month.

US Central Command said in a statement on Wednesday evening that its forces and partners have carried out around 80 military and security operations in Syria since July, targeting the Islamic State group (IS) elements to prevent them from reorganising and launching attacks inside or outside the country.

According to Central Command, the operations over the past six months killed 14 ISIS members and led to the arrest of 119 others, helping to thwart attempts by the group to restore its operational capabilities and plan attacks "on a global scale".

The statement added that US forces cooperated last month with authorities in Damascus to identify and destroy more than 15 suspected IS storage sites. That cooperation resulted in the destruction of around 130 rockets, mortars and other weapons belonging to the group. Central Command said it would continue working closely with Syrian partners to pursue IS networks and prevent their expansion.

The announcement followed an attack carried out by IS-linked cells in the eastern Homs countryside on Saturday, when militants targeted a gathering in the city of Tadmur (Palmyra), killing two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter, and wounding members of Syria’s internal security forces. There have been other fatal attacks linked to IS on Syrian security forces. 

In the aftermath of the attack, President Trump on Wednesday attended a ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to receive the remains of the three victims. Accompanied by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Trump observed what the US Air Force calls a “dignified transfer” as flag-draped coffins were unloaded from a military aircraft in the presence of family members.

Trump described the attack as "horrific", vowed retaliation, and referred to those killed as "great patriots". Three other US soldiers were wounded in the incident, the military said.

Separately, The New Arab's Arabic sister outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed obtained exclusive information indicating that US special forces carried out a security operation inside Tadmur hours after the attack, arresting three suspected individuals. Sources said the detainees were transferred by helicopter to the US-run Al-Tanf base near the Jordan-Iraq-Syria border.