EU to lift sanctions on Syria but retain curbs on former Assad regime

The European Union will lift sanctions on Syria's economy but keep those in place targeting the former Assad regime, the EU's top diplomat announced Tuesday.

Foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas spoke after chairing a meeting of foreign ministers from the 27-member bloc. She said the decision was designed to avert poverty and radicalism in the country after more than a decade of civil war sent millions fleeing, including to Europe.

The sanctions are conditional and could be resumed if the new government of Ahmad al-Sharaa doesn't keep the peace, Kallas said.

Saving lives must be our top priority on Syria," she said. 

The announcement came a week after US President Donald Trump's meeting with al-Sharaa and his announcement that the US would ease sanctions on Syria. Lifting sanctions could bring much-needed investment to Syria, which needs tens of billions of dollars to restore its battered infrastructure.

An insurgency late last year unseated former Syrian President Bashar Assad and ended the civil war that decimated much of the country's infrastructure. The United Nations estimates that 90% of Syrians live in poverty and state-supplied electricity comes as little as two hours every day.

Earlier in the day, Kallas acknowledged concerns about sectarian conflict but said we don't have a choice but to lift sanctions and bolster the Syrian economy: We actually either give them possibility to stabilise the country or we don't do that and we have something like what we have in Afghanistan.

Kallas added: There can be no peace without the path to economic recovery, and we all need a stable Syria."  She did not provide details or timing on the lifting of sanctions. But a European Council statement said it would keep sanctions based on security grounds, including arms and technology that might be used for internal repression. In addition, the EU will introduce additional targeted restrictive measures against human rights violators and those fueling instability in Syria.

Syrians had celebrated in streets across the country after Trump's announcement, and Arab leaders in neighbouring nations that host millions of refugees who fled Syria's war praised it.