President Donald J. Trump signed S. 1071, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, into law between 10:16 PM UTC on December 18 and 12:16 AM UTC on December 19, repealing the Caesar Act sanctions imposed on Syria in December 2019 due to the Assad regime, according to X posts by @azelin and @ivarmm. The Act authorizes appropriations for the Department of Defense and other agencies while codifying executive actions, as stated in Trump's signing statement quoted by @azelin. @ivarmm described the repeal as without restrictions or conditions, calling it a historic day for Syria. The Caesar Act repeal occurs nearly one year after Bashar al-Assad's ouster in December 2024, amid Syria's post-Assad recovery, including over 3.2 million refugee returns reported by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on December 18. Russia's ambassador to Iraq confirmed earlier on December 18 that Moscow granted Assad humanitarian asylum and will not extradite him, according to @Alhadath_Brk. Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, Druze spiritual leader, affirmed support for Kurdish rights and Syrian coast residents on December 18, as quoted by @vvanwilgenburg.
