Bangladesh, Dec. 27 -- The decision by the United States to lift the Caesar Act sanctions on Syria marks one of the most consequential shifts in international policy toward the country since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011. For over a decade, Syria has existed under a regime of punitive isolation that promised political leverage but delivered economic devastation and human suffering. The removal of these sanctions is not merely a bureaucratic adjustment or diplomatic signal; it represents a long-overdue recognition that economic suffocation does not produce political reform, and that rebuilding shattered societies requires engagement rather than permanent exclusion.

The Caesar Act was introduced with the stated objective of pressur...