European Union countries on Monday suspended a range of sanctions against Syria with immediate effect, including restrictions related to energy, banking, transport and reconstruction.
European leaders began rethinking their approach after insurgent forces led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ousted former President Bashar al-Assad as president in December © Mena Today
European Union countries on Monday suspended a range of sanctions against Syria with immediate effect, including restrictions related to energy, banking, transport and reconstruction.
The EU has a range of sanctions in place targeting both individuals and economic sectors in Syria.
European leaders began rethinking their approach after insurgent forces led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ousted former President Bashar al-Assad as president in December.
Meeting in Brussels on Monday, EU foreign ministers agreed to suspend restrictions on the energy sector that covered oil, gas and electricity, and sanctions on the transport sector.
They have also lifted asset freezes for five banks, eased restrictions on the Syrian central bank and indefinitely extended an exemption to facilitate delivery of humanitarian aid.
EU states maintained a range of other sanctions related to the Assad authorities, including those on arms trading, dual-use goods with both military and civilian uses, software for surveillance and the international trade of Syrian cultural heritage goods.
They said they would continue to monitor the situation in Syria to ensure that the suspensions remained appropriate.
Reporting by Bart Meijer
Negotiating teams from the U.S. and Iran could return to Islamabad later this week, five sources said on Tuesday, days after the highest-level talks between the two countries in decades ended without a breakthrough.
The deadline passed on Monday for the start of a U.S. military blockade of ships leaving Iran's ports, and Tehran threatened to retaliate against ports of its Gulf neighbours after weekend talks on ending the war broke down.
Israeli troops launched an attack on Monday to seize a key town in south Lebanon from Hezbollah fighters holed up there, pressing the war on the Iran-backed group on the eve of rare talks between Israeli and Lebanese government envoys.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.