In a move that marks a dramatic departure from nearly three decades of U.S. foreign policy toward Syria, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday lifting long-standing sanctions on the country—a move analysts view as an embrace of the government that toppled the regime of Bashar al-Assad. The sanctions were made effective immediately. The order states that conditions in Syria “have been transformed by developments over the past six months, including the positive actions taken by the new Syrian government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement Tuesday noting that, despite the end of broad Syrian sanctions, measures will remain in place against “individuals and entities related to Bashar al-Assad and his cronies—as well as human rights abusers, captagon traffickers, persons linked to Syria’s past proliferation activities, ISIS and al-Qaeda affiliates, and Iran and its terrorist proxies.”

“These actions reflect the president’s vision of...