UN envoy for Syria urges sanctions relief following al-Assad’s fall
Geir Pedersen has called for a quick end to Western sanctions after the removal of al-Assad. “We can hopefully see a quick end to the sanctions so that we can see really a rallying around the building of Syria,” Pedersen told reporters during a visit to Damascus.
“We need to get the political process under way that is inclusive of all Syrians,” Pedersen said. “That process obviously needs to be led by the Syrians themselves.”
Pedersen came to the Syrian capital to meet with officials of the new interim government set up by the former opposition forces who toppled al-Assad, led by the fighter group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
The Syrian government has been under strict sanctions by the United States, European Union and others for years.
How can Syria rebuild if not given the chance... Guilty until proven innocent.
EU top diplomat: No lifting of Syria sanctions until rights and unity are guaranteed.
The EU will not lift sanctions on Syria before its new rulers ensure minorities are not persecuted and women’s rights are protected within a unified government that disavows religious extremism, the EU’s top diplomat has said.
An EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Monday, which had Syria on the agenda, would not discuss expanding financial support to the country beyond that already provided by the EU through UN agencies, the EU’s new foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said.
“One of the questions is whether we are able to, in the future, look at the adaptation of the sanctions regime. But this clearly is not the question of today, but rather in the future where we have seen that the steps go in the right direction,” Kallas told Reuters in an interview.
While the EU has in place a tough sanctions regime against Syria, the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has also been under sanctions for years, complicating matters for the international community.
The EU was already the biggest donor of humanitarian aid to Syria, Kallas said. “We need to discuss what more can we do. But as I say, it can’t come as a blank cheque,” Kallas added.
“Syria faces a hopeful but uncertain future,” said Kallas, who is making her first visit to the Middle East in her new post. Syria’s new interim leaders had made “positive signals” but these were not enough, she said.
“What everybody is looking at is, of course, the treatment of women and girls also, which shows the society and how it goes, how the institutions are built up, so that there is a government that takes on board everybody,” she added.
Ukraine offers to supply food to Syria
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ordered his government to set up supply mechanisms to deliver food to Syria. Ukraine has been one of the world’s top grain and oilseeds exporters and has been exporting wheat and corn to Middle Eastern countries, but not to Syria.
Damascus, under al-Assad, had been importing food from Russia. But Russian wheat supplies have been suspended amid uncertainty and payment delays, the Reuters news agency reported, citing Russian and Syrian sources.
“We are ready to assist Syria in preventing a food crisis, particularly through the humanitarian program ‘Grain from Ukraine’,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “I have instructed the government to establish food supply mechanisms in cooperation with international organizations and partners who can help.”
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