Washington, Aug. 24 (EFE).- The United States removed Syria from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list on Monday, where it had been included since 1979. “ I authorized the formal rescission of Syria’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism (SST), following the conclusion of the mandatory 45-day Congressional notification period,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced in a statement. “ I have also delisted Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham’s (HTS) designation as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT),” Rubio added, referring to the organization formerly headed by Ahmed al-Sharaa, the current Syrian president. Rubio stated that these measures “represent another historic step by President Trump to give the Syrian people a path to prosperity, ” following his announcement in June 2025 of a gradual lifting of sanctions imposed on the Arab country. “These actions were all taken in recognition of the positive actions taken and further commitments by the Syrian government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa to fully distance Syria from acts of international terrorism,” the secretary of state explained. Rubio praised the Syrian government’s efforts to combat terrorism, such as its formal accession last November to the U.S.-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS and its operation to dismantle networks linked to that organization and al-Qaeda, as well as Hezbollah and other groups aligned with Iran. Al-Sharaa, who led the rebel forces that overthrew President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, was received by Trump in November 2025 during a historic visit to the White House that ushered in a new era of diplomatic relations. Trump praised the Syrian leader and signaled a shift in US policy after decades of sanctions and diplomatic isolation. With the removal of the Arab nation, the blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism now includes Iran, added in 1984; North Korea, added in 2017; and Cuba, which was removed in 2015 by former President Barack Obama and reinstated by Trump in 2021. Joe Biden removed the Caribbean island from the list again before the end of his term, and Trump re-added it in January 2025. EFElfp/mcd