By bna Cairo Bureau US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on June 30 formally ending US sanctions on Syria, including restrictions on Syrian oil imports, effective July 1, offering the Syrian people 'a chance for a new beginning,

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.

Executive order follows through on May promise to remove restrictions blocking Damascus from global finance, in move that could bolster bid to bring country into Abraham Accords