ROME — Italian International Minister Antonio Tajani is travelling to Syria on Friday to encourage the nation’s transition following the ouster of President Bashar Assad by Islamist insurgents, and mentioned Europe ought to evaluation its sanctions on Damascus now that the political state of affairs has modified.
Tajani presided Thursday over a gathering in Rome of international ministry officers from 5 international locations — Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the USA — and spoke earlier by phone together with his counterparts from Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The intention, he mentioned, is to coordinate the varied post-Assad initiatives, with Italy ready to make proposals on personal investments in well being take care of the Syrian inhabitants.
Going into the assembly with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their European counterparts, Tajani mentioned it was crucial that each one Syrians be acknowledged with equal rights. It was a reference to issues in regards to the rights of Christians and different minorities beneath Syria’s new de facto authorities of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, an Islamic militant group that the U.S. and U.N. have lengthy designated as a terrorist group.
“The primary messages from Damascus have been optimistic. That’s why I’m going there tomorrow, to encourage this new part that can assist stabilize the worldwide state of affairs,” mentioned Tajani.
Talking to reporters, he mentioned the European Union ought to focus on doable adjustments to the sanctions regime on Syria. “It’s a difficulty that needs to be mentioned as a result of Assad isn’t there anymore, it’s a brand new state of affairs, and I feel that the encouraging indicators which can be arriving needs to be additional inspired,” he mentioned.
Syria has been beneath deeply isolating sanctions by the USA, the European Union and others for years because of Assad’s brutal response to what started as peaceable anti-government protests in 2011 and spiraled into civil battle.
HTS led a lightning insurgency that ousted Assad on Dec. 8 and ended his household’s decades-long rule. From 2011 till Assad’s downfall, Syria’s rebellion and civil battle killed an estimated 500,000 individuals.
The U.S. has regularly lifted some penalties since Assad departed Syria for cover in Russia. The Biden administration in December determined to drop a $10 million bounty it had provided for the seize of a Syrian insurgent chief whose forces led the ouster of Assad final month.
Syria’s new leaders even have been urged to respect the rights of minorities and ladies. Many Syrian Christians, who made up 10% of the inhabitants earlier than Syria’s civil battle, both fled the nation or supported Assad out of concern of Islamist insurgents.
