Syrian warlords behind torture, kidnapping of ethnic minorities benefit from US sanctions relief

JUL 2, 2025

Sayf Abu Bakr and Abu Amsha were involved in war crimes against Syrian Kurds, and played a part in this year’s coastal massacres against Alawites

US President Donald Trump’s executive order lifting the majority of sanctions on Syria earlier this week included the removal of sanctions on two notorious militia leaders involved in war crimes against minorities.


As part of the executive order, Mohammad al-Jasim (Abu Amsha) of the Suleiman Shah Brigade and Sayf Abu Bakr of the Hamza Division were relieved of sanctions.

Their names have been removed from the Specially Designated Nationals List of the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

The militias were formerly part of a Turkish-backed coalition of armed groups known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), which were incorporated into the new Syrian military and Defense Ministry in the months that followed the collapse of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government last year.

Abu Amsha is now the commander of the new Syrian army’s 25th Division, while Sayf Abu Bakr leads the 76th Division.

In August 2023, an OFAC press release named the two leaders in connection with serious human rights abuses in the northern city of Afrin. These included kidnappings, sexual violence, and extortion targeting both Kurds and Arabs.


They were also implicated in the March 2025 massacres against Alawite civilians on the Syrian coast.

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Late last month, both individuals were targeted by EU sanctions for their role in the massacres, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of Alawites.

An investigation released by Reuters this week revealed that Syria’s General Security Service (GSS) – made up predominantly of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) forces – played a direct role in the March massacres.

The Syrian government has claimed that the GSS was deployed to protect, rather than massacre, Alawite civilians during the three-day killing spree.

The security services had already been widely suspected of participating in the killings.

An investigation was launched by the Syrian government after the massacres – but the results of the probe have not been made clear.

Trump’s executive order removed all sanctions against Syria except for those targeting former president Assad and those associated with him.

The US president initially announced his intention to lift Syria sanctions during a landmark trip to Riyadh in May.

In the same visit, Trump met Syrian president Ahmad al-Sharaa – previously an Al-Qaeda chief and before that a leader of ISIS.

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