France said on Wednesday (18) that it would organize an international meeting on Syria in January and that the suspension of sanctions and aid for reconstruction would be conditional on clear political and security commitments on the part of the transitional authority.
A team of French diplomats met with an official from the Syrian transition team on Tuesday in Damascus, and France raised the flag at the French embassy in the country, 12 years after cutting ties with Bashar al-Assad amid the civil war .
Acting Foreign Minister Jan-Noel Barrot told Parliament that diplomats had seen positive signs from the transitional authority and that, at least in the capital, Syrians appeared to be resuming their normal lives unhindered.
“We will not judge them by their words, but by their actions, and over time,” Barrot said.
The January meeting would be a follow-up to a meeting in Jordan last week that included Türkiye, Arab and Western countries. It was not clear at first whether the Syrians would participate or what the exact objective of the conference would be.
Western nations welcomed the fall of Assad but are considering whether they can work with the rebels who ousted him, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an Islamist group designated a terrorist organization by the European Union.
Barrot said an inclusive transition would be vital and that Western powers had many tools at their disposal to alleviate the situation, particularly the lifting of international sanctions and reconstruction aid.
“But we are conditioning this support on clear commitments on the political and security front,” he said.
Find out who the Syrian rebel leader is and the group that overthrew Bashar al-Assad
This content was originally published in France will host meeting on Syria and is cautious about lifting sanctions on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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