After a shock offensive by rebels brought an end to Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Syria is at a crossroads.

Rebuilding Syria from the ashes of the devastating civil war is sure to be a long road. For Syrians looking to offer their compatriots relief and begin to reconstruct a new Syria, however, cash is in short supply.

There’s one way, however, that the West can help Syrians get access to the funds necessary for a shot at a stable and prosperous future: end U.S. sanctions.

The sanctions were born of a decadeslong effort to isolate the Syrian regime — an effort that began to crescendo when Assad launched a brutal crackdown against the revolution that erupted 13 years ago.

Today, with Assad gone, a growing number of humanitarian advocates, experts, and lawmakers are calling on the U.S. to immediately end sanctions on Syria as a necessary step both to usher in reconstruction and allow aid to reach the country’s immiserated population.

“Not considering sanctions relief right now is like pulling the rug out from under Syria just when it’s trying to stand,” said Delaney Simon, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group. “I can’t overemphasize the intensity of the effect of the sanctions on the Syrian economy.”

Congress had a chance this month to end the harshest sanctions against Syria simply by letting them expire. The Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019 is supposed to sunset on December 20, but Congress is committed to keeping it in force.

A recent proposal for next year’s U.S. defense budget included a provision that would extend the Caesar sanctions; the text was released just hours before Assad’s fall. Because the defense budget is a must-pass legislative behemoth, that text is unlikely to change. Because Assad’s fall meets certain conditions in the law, though, the president can waive many of the sanctions.

Terror designations for the Syrian state and rebels effectively leading the country, however, create huge obstacles for trade.

Proscribed Terrorists

Much of the trepidation over Syria’s future direction stems from the central faction behind Assad’s ouster, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS.

An Al Qaeda........

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