diff --git a/controller/sync.go b/controller/sync.go
index 278aa1cba3..38b9ccf5a8 100644
--- a/controller/sync.go
+++ b/controller/sync.go
@@ -173,6 +173,14 @@ func (sc *syncContext) sync() {
 	if !successful {
 		return
 	}
+
+	// If no sync tasks were generated (e.g., in case all application manifests have been removed),
+	// set the sync operation as successful.
+	if len(syncTasks) == 0 {
+		sc.setOperationPhase(appv1.OperationSucceeded, "successfully synced (no manifests)")
+		return
+	}
+
 	// Perform a `kubectl apply --dry-run` against all the manifests. This will detect most (but
 	// not all) validation issues with the user's manifests (e.g. will detect syntax issues, but
 	// will not not detect if they are mutating immutable fields). If anything fails, we will refuse
@@ -250,15 +258,9 @@ func (sc *syncContext) generateSyncTasks() ([]syncTask, bool) {
 			syncTasks = append(syncTasks, syncTask)
 		}
 	}
-	if len(syncTasks) == 0 {
-		if len(sc.resources) == 0 {
-			sc.setOperationPhase(appv1.OperationError, fmt.Sprintf("Application has no resources"))
-		} else {
-			sc.setOperationPhase(appv1.OperationError, fmt.Sprintf("Specified resources filter does not match any application resource"))
-		}
-	}
+
 	sort.Sort(newKindSorter(syncTasks, resourceOrder))
-	return syncTasks, len(syncTasks) > 0
+	return syncTasks, true
 }
 
 // startedPreSyncPhase detects if we already started the PreSync stage of a sync operation.
diff --git a/util/argo/argo.go b/util/argo/argo.go
index 02bcd5b82b..5d3a800689 100644
--- a/util/argo/argo.go
+++ b/util/argo/argo.go
@@ -458,18 +458,17 @@ func verifyGenerateManifests(ctx context.Context, repoRes *argoappv1.Repository,
 		req.Repo.Password = repoRes.Password
 		req.Repo.SSHPrivateKey = repoRes.SSHPrivateKey
 	}
-	manRes, err := repoClient.GenerateManifest(ctx, &req)
+
+	// Only check whether we can access the application's path,
+	// and not whether it actually contains any manifests.
+	_, err := repoClient.GenerateManifest(ctx, &req)
 	if err != nil {
 		conditions = append(conditions, argoappv1.ApplicationCondition{
 			Type:    argoappv1.ApplicationConditionInvalidSpecError,
 			Message: fmt.Sprintf("Unable to generate manifests in %s: %v", spec.Source.Path, err),
 		})
-	} else if len(manRes.Manifests) == 0 {
-		conditions = append(conditions, argoappv1.ApplicationCondition{
-			Type:    argoappv1.ApplicationConditionInvalidSpecError,
-			Message: fmt.Sprintf("Path '%s' contained no kubernetes manifests", spec.Source.Path),
-		})
 	}
+
 	return conditions
 }