The Republican chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Representative Brian Mast, has walked back his opposition to lifting sanctions on Syria, announcing his readiness to support repeal on condition that the bill’s draft text includes provisions allowing sanctions to be reimposed if the Syrian government fails to meet specific conditions.
Mast told the American newspaper The Hill on Thursday, 20 November, that he does not oppose the position of US President Donald Trump’s administration, which backs a full repeal, but stressed the need for “mechanisms” to restore sanctions if “several conditions are not met”, affirming that the repeal would remain “full” nonetheless.
This shift in Mast’s position comes as the House of Representatives and the Senate hold intensive negotiations to finalize the wording of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), intending to put the repeal of sanctions to a vote in the first week of December.
According to the newspaper, Mast’s proposal is expected to face opposition from supporters of an unconditional repeal, since attaching any conditions to lifting sanctions and brandishing the threat of reimposing them could hinder reconstruction plans and constrain economic recovery efforts, while Mast continues to push for a “flexible” formulation that links repeal to Damascus’ commitment to steps whose details have yet to be disclosed.
Mohammad Alaa Ghanem, head of policy at the Syrian American Council, said on his X account on Friday, 21 November, that the final text repealing the Caesar Act will include a set of non-binding “aspirations” through which Congress asks the Syrian government to make progress in several areas, citing what he described as well-informed congressional sources.
However, these conditions are no longer binding as they previously were. Instead of including a mechanism for the immediate reimposition of sanctions, the provision will now contain a non-binding opinion by Congress that sanctions should be reimposed if the Syrian government fails to make progress in these areas for a full year. Imposing sanctions at that point would require passing a brand new law in Congress from scratch, according to Ghanem.
Mast had met Syria’s transitional president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, on 9 November during al-Sharaa’s visit to Washington. After the meeting, Mast said in a statement carried by American media outlets, “We sat for a long time talking about the future of Syria, about a country free of war, the Islamic State group, and extremism. He and I are both former soldiers; we were once enemies. I asked him directly, Why are we no longer enemies?”
According to Mast, al-Sharaa replied that he is seeking to “break free from the past, pursue a noble cause for his people and his country, and be a major ally of the United States”.
President al-Sharaa told Mast that “Syria wants peace for its people and for the region, wants to combat extremism, and to rebuild the country through the economy, which is the path to stability”. He added that Syria wants American companies to be present in Syria and invest there, and that “when stability is restored, extremism disappears”.
Who is Brian Mast?
Brian Mast is a Republican representative from the state of Florida and chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, as well as one of President Trump’s closest political allies.
He previously served in the US Army as an explosives disposal expert, losing both legs and one finger after being wounded by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2010.
After retiring from the US Army, Mast volunteered briefly in the ranks of the Israeli army and is known for his strong support for Israel, to the point that he is sometimes seen wearing an Israeli military uniform inside Congress.
According to a report by the newspaper Middle East Eye, Mast had strongly opposed lifting sanctions on Syria under pressure from Ron Dermer, adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who views the continued enforcement of the Caesar Act as a means of obstructing Syria’s reconstruction and undermining its regional influence.
On 7 November, media figure Ayman Abdel Nour reported that US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee had made a personal appeal to Representative Brian Mast, the House Foreign Affairs Committee chair, to push the process of fully repealing the Caesar Act forward.
A leading opponent of lifting the Caesar Act: What did Brian Mast discuss with al-Sharaa
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