Riyadh Hosts Regional and European Diplomats on Syria

On Sunday, Kaya Kalas, the EU's foreign policy chief, stated that European foreign ministers will convene in Brussels on January 28 to discuss lifting sanctions against Syria. Kalas made these remarks in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, ahead of a meeting with senior diplomats from Middle Eastern and Western countries and the foreign minister of the new Syrian government. The Islamic Republic was not invited to this meeting. According to the EU's foreign policy chief, the lifting of European sanctions against Syria depends on the governance of its new government, its inclusivity towards 'various groups' and women, as well as its 'non-extremism.' The senior European diplomat emphasized that if developments in Syria progress positively, the EU will take further steps to lift sanctions; however, if the situation deteriorates, sanctions will remain in place. This Sunday meeting, hosted by Saudi Arabia, is the first of its kind with the presence of Western and Middle Eastern leaders since the fall of Assad, occurring as the new Syrian rulers are urgently seeking the removal of international sanctions against their country. The U.S., U.K., and EU imposed extensive sanctions on the Syrian government in response to the bloody crackdown on Syrian protesters by Bashar al-Assad. However, the rise of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham after Assad's downfall, given that this group was previously the Syrian branch of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda, has complicated the lifting of sanctions against Syria. Annalena Baerbock, Germany's foreign minister, noted the necessity of maintaining sanctions against Bashar al-Assad and his allies while also providing assistance to the Syrian people, stating that Germany will provide 50 million euros in food, emergency shelters, and medical care to the Syrian population. The United States also issued a six-month waiver of its sanctions for transactions with governing entities in Syria last Monday to facilitate humanitarian aid to the Syrian people. Representatives from the U.K., Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and the United Nations are among the other participants in the Riyadh meeting. The U.S. and EU, while welcoming the overthrow of over five decades of Assad's authoritarian rule in Syria, have emphasized the need for an inclusive government comprising various ethnic and religious groups in the country, including Druze, Kurds, Christians, and Shiites. The transitional Syrian government reported the neutralization of an ISIS attack on the 'Sayyida Zainab Shrine.'