EU agrees to tackle Syria sanctions as Western, Arab leaders meet in Riyadh

European foreign ministers have agreed to meet at the end of January to discuss lifting sanctions on Syria. This comes after foreign ministers and senior diplomats from Western countries and the Middle East held their first regional meeting in Saudi Arabia since President Bashar al-Assad was ousted last month.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Sunday that foreign ministers would meet in Brussels on January 27 to discuss how the 27-member bloc should handle the issue. Speaking to reporters in Riyadh, she said the EU wanted to see Syria establish an inclusive government that showed no signs of “radicalization” and respected the rights of women and other groups. She emphasized that the EU could quickly reverse any openness on the issue of sanctions.

Following the talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister called for the lifting of sanctions on Syria. "We stress the importance of lifting the unilateral and international sanctions imposed on Syria, as their continuation hinders the Syrian people's aspirations for development and reconstruction," said Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.

Syria's new foreign minister, Assad Hassan Shaibani, who has repeatedly called for the lifting of decades-old sanctions, also attended the talks. Foreign ministers from regional countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey were also present. US Deputy Secretary of State John Bass, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy also participated in the talks.

A statement released by the Saudi Foreign Ministry late on Sunday reiterated the call for lifting sanctions to support Syria's reconstruction and expressed concern over Israel's incursions in the occupied Golan Heights. The statement noted that the meeting discussed “supporting the brotherly Syrian people and providing them with all assistance and support in this important stage of their history to help them rebuild Syria as a unified, independent, safe Arab state for all its citizens, free from terrorism, not violating its sovereignty or attacking its territorial integrity.”

Al Jazeera's correspondent Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from Damascus, said that the “substantive” diplomatic meeting in Riyadh was more focused on the issue of sanctions than the meeting in Aqaba, Jordan, on December 14. The latter mainly dealt with how to ensure the entry of humanitarian aid, as Syrians are feeling the adverse effects of the sanctions. “These long-standing sanctions have made it very difficult to import and export raw materials,” he said. “This means that the prices of necessities, including food and medicine, are always high. It also means that Syrians cannot get enough fuel, so there are frequent power cuts.”

The meeting comes as the new Syrian government, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), urges the West to lift sanctions to help international funds flow into Damascus. Rob Guest-Pingfold, a lecturer at King's College London, said that the Biden administration and European countries are “moving in the direction that HTS wants, which is to remove sanctions, or at least freeze them.” He told Al Jazeera: “The US has said they will freeze sanctions on things like paying public sector workers or providing energy supplies, which is crucial.” “Many of the sanctions are secondary sanctions, which means not only would a US citizen or business be sanctioned for doing business with Syria, but other countries or third parties would be sanctioned as well.”

The US issued a sanctions waiver on Monday allowing transactions with Syrian government entities for six months after Assad’s ouster in an attempt to ease the flow of humanitarian aid. Germany, Italy, and France have recently pushed for the EU to ease sanctions on Syria, but the final decision can only be made by the entire bloc. The EU's Kallas further told reporters in Riyadh that possible relief priorities include "those sanctions that are hindering state-building, access to banking services, all these aspects.”

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday that sanctions must be imposed on Assad's allies who have "committed serious crimes" during the war in Syria. "But Germany is suggesting a sensible approach to sanctions, which provides relief for the Syrian people. Syrians now need quick returns from the transition of power," she added.

A lightning rebel offensive toppled Assad on December 8, with the HTS leading the offensive and establishing a caretaker government, appointing Shaibani as foreign minister. Galip Dalay, a senior consulting research fellow at Chatham House in London, said the new government is eager to lift sanctions because it must show the people that the revolution has improved their lives. He told Al Jazeera that until the government is able to deliver on the points emphasized by Western parties, “any assistance is going to be very limited and mainly focused on the humanitarian side.” “Syria needs much more than that, it needs large-scale reconstruction. And so far, we haven't seen Western actors show full commitment until they see some measures from Syria.”

The Riyadh meeting was the first to include Syria's new rulers and senior Western officials and was led by Saudi Arabia. It followed a meeting in Rome on Thursday between senior diplomats from the US, UK, France, Germany, and the EU, as well as a landmark meeting hosted by Jordan in December, where regional players expressed their concerns about Syria's new rulers and what they needed to do to gain international recognition.