U.S. officials said sanctions against targets such as its central bank would end, but they would remain on Syria’s former dictator, Bashar al-Assad.

WASHINGTON — President Trump gave his final sign-off Monday to lifting longstanding US sanctions on Syria after pledging to do so last month during a trip to Saudi Arabia – in spite of the fact that the country’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is a former leader of al Qaeda.

Middle East adversaries Israel and Syria have held discussions for weeks about normalization, officials say.