EU eases Syria sanctions in support of de facto government

US and EU sanctions devastated Syria's economy and plunged millions into poverty as part of their covert war to topple the government of former president Bashar al-Assad  

News Desk - The Cradle 

EU countries on 24 February suspended with immediate effect some of the sanctions the bloc imposed on Syria, including restrictions related to energy, banking, transport, and reconstruction.

“This decision is part of the EU’s efforts to support an inclusive political transition in Syria, and its swift economic recovery, reconstruction, and stabilization,” a statement issued by the Council of European Union said.

During a 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 the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Some EU sanctions relating to authorities from the previous Syrian government led by former president Bashar al-Assad will remain in place – 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, Reuters reported.

The EU states said they would continue to monitor the situation in Syria to ensure that the suspensions remained appropriate.

The US and EU imposed new sanctions on Syria at the start of the war in 2011. Syrian economy was devastated in 2019 as the US tightened the already draconian sanctions on Syria under the Caesar Act. The sanctions helped prevent the reconstruction of the country after eight years of war. They also limited Syria’s ability to import oil and fuel after losing control of its oil fields to US and Kurdish forces in the country’s northeast.

Millions of Syrians were plunged into poverty after the sanctions were tightened under the Caesar Act. The value of the Syrian pound collapsed, making the salaries and savings of most Syrians become nearly worthless.

On Sunday,  Abdallah al-Dardari, the director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Bureau for Arab States, said that 90 percent of the Syrian population lived in poverty. 

“That is three times the level of poverty in 2010, and the proportion of people living in extreme poverty today is 66 percent – six times the level in 2010, which was 11 percent,” Dardari added.

The EU began reconsidering its sanctions policy after extremists from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the former Al-Qaeda affiliate, toppled the Assad government during a lightning offensive in December last year.

The US, EU, and other regional countries covertly backed HTS, led by former Al-Qaeda in Iraq commander Ahmad al-Sharaa (formerly known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani), to topple Assad.