President Trump signed an executive order Monday afternoon terminating the United States' sanctions program on Syria, the White House announced.

Axar.az informs, citing CBS news, The executive order comes after Mr. Trump announced in May during a trip to the Middle East that the U.S. would lift all sanctions on the country. While in the Middle East, Mr. Trump met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who announced a transitional government in March. The Assad regime collapsed under the weight of an offensive by opposition forces. Sanctions will remain on Bashar al-Assad, Syria's former president.

"The order will remove sanctions on Syria while maintaining sanctions on the former president, Assad, his associates, human rights abusers, drug traffickers, persons linked to chemical weapons activities, ISIS and their affiliates, and Iranian proxies," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday.

Syria's transitional government has been pushing the Trump administration for sanctions relief for months, and some work has been underway to ease some sanctions since before the president's May announcement.

Some sanctions would still need to be formally revoked by Congress. Syria has been under U.S. sanctions in some form since 1979, when the country was designated a state sponsor of terrorism.