Contrary to several reporters, Syria’s leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, has not been invited to attend a donor conference for Syria on Monday in Brussels.
The Brussels Syria conference is a conference at ministerial level. Mr Asaad al-Shebani (the Syrian Foreign Minister),’’ said EU foreign affairs spokesperson Anouar El Anouni.
According tot he EU, the objective of the 9th Brussels conference “Standing with Syria: Meeting the Needs for a Successful Transition,” Conference is to mobilise international support for ‘’an inclusive, peaceful transition’’ and generate pledges for humanitarian and non-humanitarian assistance, ensuring sustained support for Syrians—both inside the country and in host communities across the region, particularly Jordan, Lebanon, Türkiye, Egypt, and Iraq.
‘’The fall of the Assad regime marks a historic moment and an opportunity for the Syrian people to decide the future of their country,’’ the EU said.
Last December, EU leaders stressed the historic opportunity to reunite and rebuild the country and underlined the importance of an inclusive and Syrian-led political process.
Since then, the EU adopted a ‘’step by step’’ approach to the new Syrian regime led by Al-Sharaa who is a former Al Qaeda terrorist known also as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group.
Last month, it suspended sanctions imposed on Syria, including the energy, transportation, and financial institutions sectors that were essential for financial stability in the country.
But sectarian violence in the provinces of Tartus, Layakia, Hama and Homs, have cast a doubt on the objective of an inclusive Syria.
More than 1,540 people, the majority of them civilians, have been killed so far in the violences, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas this week strongly condemned ‘’the attacks by pro-Assad militias against security forces.’’ She also ondemned ‘’the horrific crimes committed against civilians, including summary killings, many of which have been allegedly perpetrated by armed groups supporting the security forces of the transitional authorities.’’ Most of them members of the Alawite community.
The EU called for ‘’a swift, transparent and impartial investigation to be conducted to ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.’’
Kallas recalled that the EU’s suspension of restrictives sanctions imposed to the former regime is ‘’reversible’’. ‘’The EU will continue to examine possible further sanctions suspensions on the basis of close monitoring of the situation in the country,’’ she said.
The European Parliament aslo addressed the developments in Syria. MEPs condemned the retaliatory targeting of members of the Alawite community and called for a plural and inclusive political transition, which includes all religious and ethnic communities, women, civil society and peaceful opposition forces.
They also called on Syria’s new authorities “to break free from its notorious long-standing alliances with Tehran and Moscow, which “have brought suffering to the Syrian people and destabilisation to the Middle East and beyond”.