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Rabat – European and Middle Eastern foreign ministers are convening today in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to discuss developments in Syria.
The meeting is a chance for the head diplomats from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkiye to speak about regional affairs.
US Secretary of State John Bass, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, and British Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, are among the notable diplomats at the important gathering in Riyadh.
This is the first meeting between EU officials and regional foreign ministers following the toppling of Bashar Al Assad’s regime on December 8, 2024.
The presence of European foreign ministers is particularly important to the meeting, since Syria’s interim government has been calling for the West to lift its sanctions.
Ahead of the meeting, European Union foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, announced that the union’s foreign ministers will gather on January 27 to decide how to alleviate these sanctions imposed on Syria.
However, the diplomat showed skepticism over Syria’s new interim government. He said that ease of sanctions would be conditional, depending on the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s (HTS) approach to lead the country.
He outlined that HTS’s decisions should include “different groups,” in reference to minorities in the country, as well as women, and involve “no radicalization.”
“If we see the developments going in the right direction, we are ready to do the next steps,” he said, however noting that if they see the opposite “then we can also move back on this.”
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Discussions over lifting sanctions imposed on the war-torn country come as an attempt to help alleviate the poor living conditions for the Syrian people.
German Foreign Minister Baerbock is among the EU diplomats suggesting to ease measures to aid the Syrian population. Still, she argues for maintaining sanctions against Assad’s allies responsible for serious crimes during Syria’s civil war.
Speaking to reporters on the sideline of the Riyadh conference, Baerbock said that “Syrians now need a quick dividend from the transition of power, and we continue to help those in Syria who have nothing, as we have done all the years of civil war.”
She said that Germany will provide 50 million euros for food, emergency shelters, and medical care.
Other countries in the West are taking action following Syria’s interim government’s calls for lifting sanctions to help the country ensure a smooth transition.
On January 7, the US decided to alleviate some of its imposed sanctions on Syria, allowing the potential expansion of US activities and transactions in the Middle Eastern country.
The US’s move intends to ensure the Syrian population has access to basic services, including electricity, energy, water, sanitation, and humanitarian aid.
Western countries initially imposed sanctions on Syria during the now-ousted Assad’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2011. The popular uproar later turned into a civil war that killed nearly 2 million, displaced millions of others, and destroyed much of the country.
