Trump’s Cuts to U.S. Foreign Aid Undermine Syria Sanctions Relief

In the spinal discussion on how to deal with Syria, US President Donald Trump emerged amazingly as realistic, accumulative, and an empty man. Since the overthrow of the Russian dictator, backed by Syria, Bashar al -Assad, the war -torn country is subject to the radical Islamic leadership. However, in May, Trump took the initiative to reduce sanctions for years, explaining that he wanted to provide the Syrians a path to economic recovery.

Unfortunately, this pragmatic policy towards stability is only half of the story. Trump’s heritage may not be defined in Syria by relieving sanctions or re -establishing diplomatic relations, but a decision was taken much early in the humanitarian sector in Syria: the chaotic destruction of the American Agency for International Development (the United States Agency for International Development).

In the spinal discussion on how to deal with Syria, US President Donald Trump emerged amazingly as realistic, accumulative, and an empty man. Since the overthrow of the Russian dictator, backed by Syria, Bashar al -Assad, the war -torn country is subject to the radical Islamic leadership. However, in May, Trump took the initiative to reduce sanctions for years, explaining that he wanted to provide the Syrians a path to economic recovery.

Unfortunately, this pragmatic policy towards stability is only half of the story. Trump’s heritage may not be defined in Syria by relieving sanctions or re -establishing diplomatic relations, but a decision was taken much early in the humanitarian sector in Syria: the chaotic destruction of the American Agency for International Development (the United States Agency for International Development).

“I will ask to stop sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance of greatness,” Trump told a sudden audience in his head on May 13. Quoting the personal attractiveness of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the president went to shake the hand of the new leader in Syria, Ahmed Al -Sharra, the former leader of al -Qaeda. The meeting went well, and it seems that Trump liked Basharaa: “A strong man, a very strong past,” he said later, “Will a boy put a choir in this situation? I don’t think that … it’s a bad neighborhood.”

When the Assad regime was overthrown for decades by the Islamic rebels in Sharra in late 2024, US and European sanctions on Syria should be lifted through rights. The regime that was imposed on it has disappeared, and the sanctions appear to be more urgent, given that Syria has now become an economical exhaustion that it risked the collapse of the state. But fears of the extremist Shara background convinced Washington and its allies to maintain many sanctions – and Syria continued to collapse.

Everything changed when, in May, Trump traveled to the Arabian Peninsula and the Crown Prince asked him to give the Syrians a break. Certainly, he said – and such, change the future of Syria. When many layers of US sanctions began to exfoliate, Europeans follow their economic restrictions.

Trump continued to pay. After that, Syria’s file was handed over to his real estate colleague and Ankara’s ambassador Thomas Barack, who immediately went to Damascus to raise the stars’ sign and continue to push American American normalization forward. Unlike the policy defect in Syria in the first period of Trump, when it is misleading regularly by the appointed, it seems that the administration is now uniform and by despair. In the last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio tore other aid from another division by clearing the armed Shara group of her appointment to the terrorist.

The Trump administration’s enthusiastic administration of the former Syrian jihadist ruler is not controversial or free of risk. Sharaa is a man who has a lot of luggage, and Syria’s internal tensions are dangerously combustible, as it appears in March when the former rebels slaughtered the minority. But it is difficult to imagine another path of work that is not limited to making Syria’s internal problems worse.

The new United States policy is based on the very reasonable assumption that Shara is the best hope in Syria in stability, because it is the only game in the city. And stability is necessary to enable other things that the United States wants to see in Syria: reconstruction, return of refugees, combating terrorism and non -spread cooperation, dismantling the smooth American military association, and a form of the judiciary with Israel.

Therefore, credit where credit is due. During the Trump era, the United States re -discovered pragmatism and tries to withdraw a major Arab nation from the edge of the state’s failure. The area will be better if it is able.

However, Trump’s bet on Syrian stability should overcome the tremendous obstacles created by Trump’s other policies.

After 14 years of conflict, Syria is very bad and broken, filled with turmoil. The war witnessed that large parts of Aleppo, his birth, and tenderness are ground in the rubble by bombing and air strikes, and after years there was no serious rebuilding. The power network provides a few hours of electricity per day, and the infrastructure collapses. There is an increase in pollution, soil degradation, and the removal of forests, and the disease is spread with the failure of water and irrigation systems. The United Nations estimates that two -thirds of the population will need external aid in 2025. millions of refugees remain a matter around the borders of Syria, and although a lot of dream of going home have little to return to: no jobs, schools, hospitals, and homes. Which makes things more wonderful, Syria has suffered from its worst drought in 60 years, and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has warned that 16 million people may be pushed to food insecurity.

If the emerging SR government wants to deal with these resulting social problems and tensions, with the construction of the state as well and the formation of a chaotic bloc of former people in a loyal army, it will need great external support. In fact, Syria relied on foreign aid for years. But in a harsh development, its foreign aides do not exceed aid now after Syria needs to face the final tremors to change the system. On the contrary, Syria has seen many of its external aids withdrew, with devastating results.

The European and Arab governments that afflict and short -sighted bear their share of responsibility, but the main perpetrator behind this tragic result is the potential savior of Syria, Trump.

Trump has always been contempt for foreign aid, but it seems that when he took office to destroy the US State Department, the US Agency for International Development, condemned the plays more than an ideology – an artifact of American culture wars. The traditional conservative president may have called for discounts and changes in the budget for aid, but not Trump. Amid strange demands about the fact that the US Agency for International Development “is” a “radical left -wing crazy”, he moved quickly and recklessly to destroy the American aid device that researchers now say millions may die.

Until this spring, the United States was one of the leading humanitarian actors in Syria, which was only overwhelmed with the European Union and its member state. Between 2012 and 2024, Washington provided more than $ 18 billion in assistance, helping millions of people who are vulnerable to surviving one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. These strategic assistance also served by maintaining infrastructure and institutions to avoid the complete collapse of Syria, and to equip the regional partners who are overwhelmed by the refugee crisis, such as Jordan and Lebanon.

Last year, the US Agency for International Development dealt with about a quarter of global assistance to Syrians. But besides, the agency also played a vital role in providing leadership, specialized capabilities, and experience in the wider international effort. This winter, however, Trump all tore all of this to restore his local opponents – after half a year, the results began to appear.

Throughout Syria, people are now losing quickly access to food, health care and drinking water, as unpaid NGOs launch fire staff and conclude projects. In February, the Mercy Corps warned that it would stop the delivery of clean water to 118,000 Syrians, and the rescue of children said that it had closed 20 out of 50 nutrition programs in Syria, leaving more than 400,000 children at risk of extreme malnutrition. A report issued by international refugees pointed to the loss of water and sanitation and hygiene support for a million Syrians, and warned that these aid discounts may lead to new waves of refugees while families are scrambling for survival. The discounts in financing also set projects designed to develop democracy and good governance, at the moment that could have been important. For example, support was withdrawn from the famous online platform to check SY, which surpasses misleading information from the toxic political environment in Syria, and Enem in the valleyAnd an independent weekly fighting for the real press in a media scene anti -party development and propaganda.

In Syria, then, it’s Trump against Trump. On the one hand, the US President showed himself ready to draw a pragmatic course, in an attempt to restore Syria from the edge of the abyss by helping its new Islamic leader and order unprecedented sanctions. On the other hand, Trump’s reckless discounts in the social and economic base of Syrian stability and local peace have struck. In a state that is mired with weapons and sides, social distress is likely to be translated from the destruction of the United States Agency for International Development into human suffering – that can easily provoke new courses of violence and instability.

Trump’s real legacy in Syria remains to see: Will the man who gave her a chance of greatness, or the man who thwarted his transfer after determination?