Thank you, Member Aboultaif.
First, I'd like to say that, yes, we definitely bring up the government's interactions and the government's approach to minority issues. We've also discussed with the Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Syrian Minister of Interior and others the events that happened in March 2025 with the coastal massacres and again in July in Sweida. We have made it very clear that these conducts were not acceptable—more than unacceptable. They have to be fully investigated, and people have to be held accountable for these activities.
In terms of the lifting of sanctions, we did it in two ways. The first was to try to provide economic opportunity to Syrians. As I noted in my opening remarks, 90% of Syrians require some sort of humanitarian support, 70% direct humanitarian support, but 90% are around the poverty line, so it's important to provide economic relief and opportunities for the recovery of the country.
At the same time we did that, we also removed it from the list of state supporters of terrorism, which was also in connection to what was in place in terms of the Syrian regime's connection to Iran and Hezbollah, neither of which is there anymore. We also made decisions to add certain.... We updated the regulations to include human rights abuses and persons who are involved in destabilizing activity. As a condition of those additions, six new persons were sanctioned.
I think the government's approach is best characterized as trying to create space for economic recovery, while also recognizing that the government has further to go in creating tools that will allow us to take steps...or to sanction individuals who violate human rights abuses or conduct themselves in a way that undermines the transition.