Arab countries and Turkey have been consistently lobbying the EU and US to remove sanctions on Syria under its new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa. This month, they made some major inroads — seen in US President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement during his Mideast Gulf tour that he would lift US sanctions on Syria on the advice of Gulf allies and other states. Separately, the EU last week agreed to lift remaining punitive measures against the country. Absent real sanctions relief, al-Sharaa's government would be at risk of failure, analysts say, with fallout for wider regional stability.