Republican Congressman Joe Wilson announced on Friday that the US Senate voted to repeal the Caesar Act sanctions imposed on Syria during the rule of the ousted regime, while Damascus welcomed the move as a “historic step.”

Wilson thanked the Senate in a post on X platform for approving the repeal of the Caesar Act as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, stating that “harsh sanctions were imposed on a regime that fortunately no longer exists,” and confirmed that the full repeal “now depends on Syria’s success,” according to his expression.

On June 12, Wilson had introduced legislation to Congress to fully repeal the Caesar Act and its sanctions on Syria.

Syrian Finance Minister Mohammad Yasir Berni considered the Senate vote to repeal the Caesar Act as “a success of Syrian diplomacy in removing the last and harshest US sanctions imposed on the country.”

Bernie said in a Facebook post that the next step is for the House of Representatives (through a joint committee with the Senate) to approve the same provision in the Defense Department budget, leading to President Donald Trump’s signature before the end of the year on the new budget, thus putting the repeal into effect.

Syrian Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa said this vote represents a “historic moment for the new Syria and its people’s struggles.”

Al-Mustafa added in a post on X platform that repealing this law (in the next phase) removes “a major obstacle in the path of stability and development,” considering this development the fruit of Syrian diplomacy and the efforts of the Syrian diaspora abroad.

At the end of June, Trump signed an executive order to end sanctions on Syria aimed at supporting reconstruction and building “a Syria that does not provide a haven for terrorist organizations,” according to his expression.

The executive order did not repeal the Caesar Act passed by Congress in 2019 but legally paved the way to freeze some of its sanctions, as a US president cannot amend or suspend a law passed by Congress.

Caesar is the pseudonym of former Syrian military police photographer Farid al-Mazhan, who defected from the Syrian regime in 2013, carrying with him 55,000 photos showing torture and violations in Syrian prisons.

US lawmakers introduced the Caesar Act bill in 2016 aiming to “stop the wholesale killing of the Syrian people, encourage a peaceful settlement through negotiation, and hold Syrian human rights violators accountable for their crimes.”

After discussions, Congress approved the law in both the House and Senate in December 2019, and President Trump signed it as part of the 2020 Defense Budget.

The law imposed sanctions on Syrian individuals and institutions involved in war crimes and prohibited financial dealings with influential figures in the ousted President Bashar al-Assad’s regime or linked to it.

It also stipulated penalties for any local or foreign entity investing or dealing with Syria in sectors such as energy, aviation, construction, and banking, targeting companies and countries supporting the Syrian regime at the time, such as Iran and Russia.