When President Donald Trump announced the lifting of US sanctions on Syria during his trip to the Middle East this week, it marked a major policy shift that could reshape the region and triggered a scramble across the US government to implement the decision,

The impact of Trump’s statement, which he said would give Syria “a chance at greatness” after the December overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, had an almost immediate effect, as the Syrian pound strengthened against the US dollar by about 25 percent,