The effort to delist the two Syrian officials is being driven by the Trump administration, which has circulated a draft resolution to Security Council members. Al Monitor reported that diplomatic sources confirmed the US mission’s circulation of the draft, which explicitly calls for the removal of both Sharaa and Khattab from the United Nations’ counterterrorism sanctions list. This list, which targets individuals associated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS), currently subjects the officials to an arms embargo, an asset freeze, and requires them to obtain special UN approval for international travel. The draft resolution, which Al Monitor obtained, simply "decides that Ahmed al-Sharaa … and Anas Hasan Khattab are delisted" and welcomes the Syrian government’s commitment to "countering terrorism including foreign terrorist fighters."
The resolution has been placed under a procedural "silence" until Wednesday morning, allowing member states a window to raise objections before a vote can be scheduled. However, the US initiative has already encountered significant resistance from a key veto-wielding member: China. Beijing's concern stems from the formal inclusion of Uyghurs from the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) within the Syrian National Army. The TIP is a transnational jihadist group whose stated goal is the formation of an Islamic state in Xinjiang and Central Asia, a matter of high sensitivity for the Chinese government.
Despite China's opposition, analysts suggest that Beijing is isolated in its stance, leading to speculation that the country is more likely to abstain from the vote rather than exercise its veto power. This potential outcome would clear the path for the resolution's passage. The United States has been working to smooth the way for this delisting, having previously sought to remove Sharaa’s group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), as a sanctioned entity. That earlier provision was removed from the draft resolution due to pushback, as Al Monitor had previously reported. The US and the United Kingdom have already removed HTS from their own respective lists of designated terrorist organizations in July and last month, respectively.
The urgency of the US push suggests a prioritization of the upcoming state visit. Maya Ungar, a UN analyst at the International Crisis Group, noted that the United States appears to have made changes to the draft to remove as many potential objections as possible, aiming for quick passage. Ungar stated, "In making these changes and pushing the resolution forward now, the US is choosing a win ahead of Sharaa's state visit over more substantial changes that would benefit the reconstruction and economic reintegration of Syria in the longer term." The meeting between Sharaa and President Trump on Monday will cap a rapid diplomatic reversal, following a meeting in Riyadh in May where Trump announced the lifting of all sanctions on Syria. The delisting of Sharaa and Khattab is seen as a crucial precursor to fully normalizing relations and supporting the new Syrian government.