EU to lift remaining economic sanctions on Syria to support war-torn country's recovery
'Today, we took the decision to lift our economic sanctions on Syria,' the EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas posted on social media after a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers in Brussels.
'We want to help the Syrian people rebuild a new, inclusive and peaceful Syria,' she said.
The move from the EU comes after US President Donald Trump announced last week that Washington was lifting its sanctions against Syria.
Syria's new rulers have been clamouring for relief from the crushing international punishment imposed after Assad's crackdown on opponents spiralled into civil war.
EU diplomats said the agreement should see the lifting of sanctions cutting Syrian banks off from the global system and freezing central bank assets.
But diplomats said the bloc intended to impose new individual sanctions on those responsible for stirring ethnic tensions, following deadly attacks targeting the Alawite minority.
Other measures targeting the Assad regime and prohibiting the sale of weapons or equipment that could be used to repress civilians are set to remain in place.
Syria's foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani said after the EU decision that the lifting of the economic sanctions showed an 'international will' to support Damascus.
Advertisement
Shaibani added that 'the Syrian people today have a very important and historic opportunity to rebuild their country'.
The latest move from the EU comes after it took a first step in February of suspending some sanctions on key Syrian economic sectors.
Officials said those measures could be reimposed if Syria's new leaders break promises to respect the rights of minorities and move towards democracy.
During his visit to Paris earlier this month, Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa said there was no justification for maintaining European sanctions imposed against the Assad government.
'These sanctions were imposed on the previous regime because of the crimes it committed, and this regime is gone,' Sharaa said in a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron.
'With the removal of the regime, these sanctions should be removed as well, and there is no justification for keeping the sanctions,' he added.
Trump met Sharaa, a former militant who fought against US forces in Iraq and had a $10m US bounty on his head until December 2024, in Saudi Arabia last week – the first meeting between the leaders of the US and Syria in 25 years.
Following the half hour meeting, Trump described Sharaa as 'young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter'.
He said he thought Sharaa had a 'real shot at holding [Syria] together' and that the Syrian president had agreed to eventually join the Abraham accords, which would normalise Syrian ties with Israel.
The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco signed the US-brokered accords in 2020.
© AFP 2025
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Independent
15 minutes ago
- Irish Independent
Canada to recognise Palestinian state, prime minister Mark Carney says
The announcement came after France said last week it would recognize a Palestinian state and a day after Britain said it would recognize the state at September's U.N. General Assembly meeting if the fighting in Gaza, part of the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel, had not stopped by then. Carney told reporters that the reality on the ground, including starvation of people in Gaza, meant "the prospect of a Palestinian state is literally receding before our eyes." "Canada condemns the fact that the Israeli government has allowed a catastrophe to unfold in Gaza," he said. Carney said the planned recognition was based in part on repeated assurances from the Palestinian Authority, which represents the State of Palestine at the U.N., that it was reforming its governance and is willing to hold general elections in 2026 in which Hamas "can play no part." The announcements by some of Israel's closest allies reflect growing international outrage over Israel's restrictions on food and other aid to Gaza in its war against Hamas militants, and the dire humanitarian crisis there. A global hunger monitor has warned that a worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding in the enclave. The Gaza health ministry reported seven more hunger-related deaths on Wednesday, including a two-year-old girl with an existing health condition. The Hamas-run government media office in Gaza said the Israeli military killed at least 50 people within three hours on Wednesday as they tried to get food from U.N. aid trucks coming into the northern Gaza Strip. Israel and its closest ally, the U.S., both rejected Carney's statements. "The change in the position of the Canadian government at this time is a reward for Hamas and harms the efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and a framework for the release of the hostages," the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made similar comments after the French and British announcements. A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said President Donald Trump also sees recognition of the State of Palestine as wrongly "rewarding Hamas." U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff is due to travel to Israel on Thursday to discuss Gaza. Trump said this week he expected centers to be set up to feed more people in the enclave. The State of Palestine has been a non-member observer state of the U.N. General Assembly since 2012, recognized by more than three-quarters of the assembly's 193 member states. Jonathan Panikoff, former deputy U.S. national intelligence officer on the Middle East, said recognition of Palestine is intended "to increase pressure on Israel to compel it to return to a two-state paradigm." But he said Canada's announcement is "unlikely to be anything more than symbolic and risks undermining their relationship with a longtime ally in Israel." French President Emmanuel Macron, who spoke with Carney before Canada's announcement, said the recognition of Palestine will "revive a prospect of peace in the region." POSSIBLE ULTIMATUM TO HAMAS Israeli security cabinet member Zeev Elkin said on Wednesday that Israel could threaten to annex parts of Gaza to increase pressure on Hamas, eroding Palestinian hopes of statehood on land Israel now occupies. Mediation efforts to secure a 60-day ceasefire and the release of remaining hostages held by Hamas ground to a halt last week. In Gaza, resident Saed al-Akhras said the recognition of Palestine by major powers marked a "real shift in how Western countries view the Palestinian cause." "Enough!" he said. "Palestinians have lived for more than 70 years under killing, destruction and occupation, while the world watches in silence." Families of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza appealed for no recognition of a Palestinian state to come before their loved ones were returned. "Such recognition is not a step toward peace but rather a clear violation of international law and a dangerous moral and political failure that legitimizes horrific war crimes," the Hostages Family Forum said. Netanyahu said this month he wanted peace with Palestinians but described any future independent state as a potential platform to destroy Israel, so control of security must remain with Israel. His cabinet includes far-right members who openly demand the annexation of all Palestinian land. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday that reestablishing Jewish settlements in Gaza was "closer than ever," calling Gaza "an inseparable part of the Land of Israel." AID GOING IN, BUT NOT ENOUGH A 2-year-old girl being treated for a build-up of brain fluid died overnight of hunger, her father told Reuters on Wednesday. "Doctors said the baby has to be fed a certain type of milk," Salah al-Gharably said by phone from Deir Al-Balah. "But there is no milk. She starved. We stood helpless." The deaths from starvation and malnutrition overnight raised the toll from such causes to 154, according to the Gaza health ministry, including at least 89 children, since the war's start, most of them in recent weeks. Israel said on Sunday it would halt military operations for 10 hours a day in parts of Gaza and designate secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the United Nations and its partners had been able to bring more food into Gaza in the first two days of pauses, but the volume was "still far from enough." The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas led attacks on communities and military bases in southern Israel in which some 1,200 people were killed, including more than 700 civilians, and another 251 taken as hostages to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 60,000 people and laid waste to much of the territory, the Gaza health ministry says.
Irish Times
30 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Irish regulators take aim at Big Tech, but how will the online safety code be implemented?
No more self-regulation for the tech sector. That was the message that was sent to Big Tech by the introduction of the online safety code . The new rules are part of a raft of new legal restrictions and responsibilities placed on technology companies to ensure that harmful content is not easily available online. The code is designed to make online services safer not just for children, but for everyone, tackling everything from illegal content to dangerous challenges – anything that can be deemed harmful to children and the wider population. It also requires platforms to put in place appropriate forms of age verification, to protect children, and implement parental controls to help parents limit time spent online and the type of content children can see. And they must have clear reporting systems for content that violates the rules, and take action on those reports. But who decides what is harmful? Who does the act actually apply to? And what are the penalties for breaching the code? READ MORE The code, which specifically focuses on video sharing platforms, has been several years in the making. It was enabled by several pieces of legislation – the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022, which was signed into law by President Michael D Higgins in December 2022, the EU Digital Services Act and the EU Terrorist Content Online Regulation. Work began in earnest with the establishment of Coimisiún na Meán (CnM) in March 2023 and the appointment of Ireland's first online safety commissioner, Niamh Hodnett. [ What are the new online safety regulations that Big Tech is unhappy about – and will they work? Opens in new window ] CnM put out a call for submissions on the proposed code, and developed a draft code that it put out for public consultation, receiving around 1,400 responses that helped shape the new rules. Based on that, it revised the draft code, coming up with a legally binding set of rules that regulate content on the platforms designated as video sharing platforms. It was formally adopted in October 2024 . What does the code cover? The code focuses on harmful and illegal content on video-sharing platforms in a number of forms, from the video content created by users to commercial video material that is available on these platforms. It is not just the video itself, but also the captions that accompany it, and comments associated with it. Who is covered by the legislation? If your platform is about sharing videos and you are European headquartered in Ireland, then the code applies to your service. Coimisiún na Meán has designated 10 platforms that are covered – for now – including the obvious ones: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube and LinkedIn. Udemy, Pinterest, Tumblr and Reddit were also on the list published by the commission in December 2023. Not everyone has taken the news well, with both Tumblr and Reddit taking cases to the High Court to argue that they should not be designated as video-sharing platforms. Those cases were dismissed in June last year . What does the code mean for these online services? Aside from ensuring that certain content is not uploaded to the site, video-sharing platforms are required to put in robust age verification systems to ensure that younger users are not gaining access to harmful content. The code also compels them to have parental controls available, allowing parents to not only limit the time spent online and the type of content users can access, but also who can see their content online. There must also be a transparent and easy-to-follow reporting system for content that does breach the rules. [ Online safety commissioner 'deeply concerned' at rise of AI-generated child sex-abuse images Opens in new window ] The more general rules were implemented in October, but the commission gave platforms a grace period – nine months – to allow the video-sharing platforms to make any changes needed to systems and other preparations that were needed to comply with the age verification and content rules in Part B of the code. That gave platforms 'more than enough time' in the eyes of some child-safety campaigners to develop robust age verification systems, stringent content controls to prevent exposure of children to harmful material, and easy-to-use reporting systems. Platforms serving up such content can't rely on simply asking users how old they are, and trusting they will tell the truth. Although the code doesn't say exactly how companies must verify ages, Hodnett has made clear that 'robust, privacy-respecting' verification measures are needed. What is considered harmful content? There is a wide definition of harmful in the code, from the obvious candidates – adult content such as pornography and violence – that must be restricted to prevent younger users from easily stumbling across it. Cyberbullying, self-harm and suicide, content that promotes or glorifies eating disorders, and incitement to hatred and violence is also covered. Even dangerous challenges that go viral on social media can be defined as harmful to younger users, and therefore subject to the code. Failure to meet these new obligations will mean fines of up to €20 million, or 10 per cent of the platform's annual turnover – whichever is greater. What about its critics? X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, has taken a court case challenging the rules. The platform claims Coimisiún na Meán engaged in 'regulatory overreach' in its approach to restrictions on certain video content, saying the code contradicts Irish legal requirements for protecting and balancing fundamental rights, particularly freedom of expression. That case is currently working its way through the courts. The code has been widely welcomed elsewhere but there have been a few concerns raised. Privacy campaigners, for example, have expressed concerns about storing the data required for age verification. Some campaigners, meanwhile, don't think the new code goes far enough. Child online safety charity CyberSafeKids, for example, welcomed the code as a 'step in the right direction', describing it as 'a milestone' that shifts legal responsibility on to tech companies to protect children online. 'This shift finally places a clear obligation on platforms to face the reality that underage users are accessing harmful content daily on their platforms, and to implement effective safeguards,' Cybersafe Kids said. However, it noted that the code only applied to the 10 platforms identified by CnM, excluding other widely used social media platforms, such as Snapchat, and gaming platforms popular with children, such as Roblox. 'This leaves significant gaps in the protection of children who are encountering similarly harmful content in gaming environments, highlighting the urgent need for broader regulatory coverage to ensure online safety for children across all digital environments,' the charity said. CyberSafeKids has also raised concerns that the code was vague in parts, without clear time frames for handling harmful content and complaints. [ Keeping children safe online is not child's play Opens in new window ] Another issue was the decision to remove measures dealing with 'recommender' algorithms – software that promotes and highlights content, pushing it to users – from the code. That algorithm can often be the source of the harmful content that the code is trying to protect users from. When the draft code was published, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties said it was 'dismayed' by the decision to remove measures to address toxic algorithms from the final code. ICCL senior fellow Dr Johnny Ryan described it as 'a dangerous U-turn'. How will it be enforced? Coimisiún na Meán will monitor the platforms to ensure the rules are being applied, particularly around mechanisms to report illegal or infringing content. However, members of the public can make complaints to the commission, although they should complain to the platform first. Campaigners have called on the commission to review the code's efficacy within 12 to 24 months, and if it is failing to protect children, to implement stiffer penalties. 'Ultimately, we need a long-term strategy that ensures we are preparing and equipping children and young people for safe and enriching online experiences, and that adequate and robust legislation and resources are in place to effectively achieve this,' CyberSafeKids says.
Irish Times
30 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Tobacco lobby keen for Government to regulate new golden goose
The tobacco industry is continuing its streak of pushing the Government to increase regulation and taxation on its new golden goose: smoking-alternative products. British American Tobacco (Bat) is warning the Government that the State's illicit vape trade will thrive unless the excise tax on vapes is urgently rolled out alongside 'strong enforcement measures'. Bat has also labelled Health Service Executive plans to carry out 40 inspections along the vaping supply chain each year as 'not sufficient given the size of the market and the scale of the illicit' problem. 'If implemented properly, the tax can help deliver on public policy goals, but without strong enforcement, there's a real risk it could unintentionally further fuel criminal trade,' said Bat Ireland country manager David Melinn. But why? Bat noted a KPMG report, which was referenced in the Government's tax strategy group papers, saying the illicit vape trade estimates account for up to 40 per cent of the Republic's €550 million vape market. The report, released to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act, was carried out on behalf of Hale Vaping. It estimates the size of the illicit trade as between 34 per cent and 45 per cent of the market. John Fitzgerald on the 'poor show' of a trade deal struck between the EU and the US Listen | 23:32 The report recommends a tax stamp regime that would increase the price of vaping products, which is expected to lead to a 'decline in overall legal market volume vaping demand' but will also minimise the illicit trade. This illicit trade represents lost revenue for tobacco companies, which are looking to 'actively migrate' customers to smokeless products. It is no surprise that Bat is also behind one of the largest vaping brands in the world, Vuse, as well as having a hand in the nicotine pouch industry, too, with the Velo brand. The excise on vapes was expected to be introduced in mid-2025, but is facing delays. With a potential vape flavour ban on the horizon, the sector is warning that, without enforcement, 'Ireland risks becoming an even greater target for criminal smugglers'.
