A UN envoy called on Sunday for a rapid end to Western sanctions against Syria as the country’s new leaders and regional and global powers begin to chart a path forward after the fall of President Bashar Assad.
The Syrian government has been subject to strict sanctions from the United States, the European Union and other countries for years over Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and later escalated into civil war.
THE rebel alliance who toppled Assad and broke his iron grip on the country just days ago, faces a nation torn and deeply isolated by harsh international sanctions, which have worsened Syria’s previous economic problems. But other challenges also complicate Syria’s reconstruction: the new transitional leadership has not presented a clear vision of how the country will be governed, and the main group behind the offensive is grappling with a terrorist designation by the United States.
U.N. Syria envoy Geir Pedersen told reporters in Damascus that getting Syria back on track after the tumultuous past few weeks would be made easier by rapid sanctions relief.
“We hope to see a quick end to the sanctions so that we can see a real coming together around building Syria,” he said.
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Parts of Syria’s largest cities remain damaged or destroyed by years of fighting. Reconstruction has been largely hampered by sanctions aimed at preventing the rebuilding of damaged infrastructure and assets in government-controlled areas in the absence of a political solution.
Pedersen traveled to Damascus to meet with officials of the new interim government set up by the former opposition forces that toppled Assad, led by the Islamic militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. Officials in Washington have indicated that the Biden administration is considering removing the group’s terrorist designation. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday that those responsible were in direct contact with the group.
Over the weekend, Blinken attended an emergency meeting in Jordan where he said he had secured support from the 12 Arab League foreign ministers, Turkey and senior officials from the European Union and of the United Nations on how Syria should be run after decades of the Assad family. ruler.
They agreed that the new government should respect the rights of minorities and women, prevent terrorist groups from gaining a foothold, ensure that humanitarian aid reaches those in need, and secure and destroy all remaining chemical weapons of the Assad era. Blinken promised that the United States would recognize and support a new government that upholds these principles.
An excerpt from President Biden’s virtual call with G7 leaders says they discussed “the need for a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political transition process” amid other issues in the Middle East.
With time running out for the Biden administration, it is unclear what approach President-elect Donald Trump will take toward Syria.
Syria’s interim government is expected to rule until March, but it has not yet spelled out the process by which a new permanent administration would replace it.
“We must launch a political process that includes all Syrians,” Pedersen said. “This process must obviously be led by the Syrians themselves.”
He called for “justice and accountability for crimes” committed during the war and for the international community to step up humanitarian aid.
A sign of the Syrians’ aspiration for a return to normal, even after the rebels’ lightning offensive in recent weeks, schools in Damascus reopened on Sunday for the first time since the insurgents’ march in the capital.
At Nahla Zaidan School in the capital’s Mezzah neighborhood, teachers raised the three-star revolutionary flag in place of the former government’s two-star Syrian flag.
“Syria is trying to build this country with these children who came. Even though I think some of them are afraid, they came to build Syria and experience the victories of this country,” said Maysoun Al-Ali , director of the school.
“God willing, there will be more development, more security and more construction in this beloved country.”
