The US president is to issue an order cancelling a 2004 declaration, in move to stabilise country’s new government

Donald Trump is expected to issue an executive order to lift some financial sanctions on Syria in a move that the White House says will help stabilise the country after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad.

The US was expected on Monday to “terminate the United States’ sanctions programme on Syria”, a White House spokesperson said, cancelling a 2004 declaration that froze Syrian government property and limited exports to Syria over Damascus’s chemical weapons programme.