PRESS RELEASE: New Report Urges U.S. to Leverage Influence for Stability in Syria
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 1, 2025
Contact: Blake Johnson
bjohnson@jinsa.org
Washington, DC – As the Trump administration and Congress weigh next steps on Syria policy, a new report by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) urges U.S. leaders to preserve America’s leverage to steer Syria toward stability and de-escalate the worsening cycle of sectarian tensions and violence.
The report, Course Correction: Getting America’s Syria Strategy Right, cautions that while President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government has taken steps responsive to U.S. security concerns—including cooperating on counterterrorism, limiting Iranian influence, and signaling openness to peace with Israel—it has also failed to avert mass atrocities against Syria’s Alawite and Druze minorities, consolidated near-dictatorial powers, and fueled renewed sectarian tensions. These alarming trends threaten the country’s post-Assad future and America’s goal of a Syria that can serve as a partner in building a more stable and secure Middle East.
President Donald Trump’s decision to front-load sanctions relief—including a waiver under the Caesar Act and an executive order unwinding decades of Syria sanctions—was intended to give Sharaa’s government “a chance at greatness.” Congress followed with bipartisan proposals to repeal the Caesar Act permanently. While these actions are intended to stabilize Sharaa’s government and help rebuild Syria’s shattered economy, the wholesale rollback of sanctions removes Washington’s most powerful source of leverage for getting Sharaa to shift course on matters of internal governance that most threaten Syria’s future.
“Congress should resist a head-long rush to prematurely repeal the Caesar Act,” says JINSA Senior Fellow John Hannah. “Sharaa’s desire to be rid of the Act’s sanctions remains Washington’s most effective tool to convince him to adopt a more accommodating and inclusive approach toward Syria’s minority communities that is crucial for the country’s future stability and unity.”
Report recommendations include:
- Preserve economic and military leverage by maintaining the Caesar Act and a limited U.S. military presence in northeast Syria.
- Form a multinational diplomatic coalition to press Damascus for more inclusive governance and minority protections.
- Re-establish a fully staffed U.S. embassy in Damascus to ensure direct engagement with Syrian communities and better inform U.S. policy.
- Press Sharaa to modify his approach to internal governance, including a willingness to amend the interim constitution, reconvene an inclusive national dialogue, and evict foreign jihadi commanders from Syria’s new security services.
The report stresses that Syria’s trajectory is at a dangerous inflection point. Without a decisive course correction in U.S. strategy that also prioritizes issues of internal governance, the country faces a high risk of backsliding into sectarian conflict, opening the door once again to extremists and malign actors like Iran and ISIS. At stake is nothing less than Syria’s future as a unitary state that is capable of contributing to Middle East peace and security rather than reverting to a chronic source of instability, chaos, and terrorism.
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