(Adnkronos) – Agreement on easing sanctions against Syria “more or less” exists among European Union member states, which back the war-devastated country’s de facto leadership, according to Italy.
“Today there is more or less an agreement among EU foreign ministers to ease the sanctions against Syria,” Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on the sidelines of a Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels.
“We support the new administration if it wants to unite the country by giving the same rights to all citizens,” said Tajani, referring to Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
HTS ousted longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad last month after its rebel fighters stormed Damascus, ending Syria’s 13-year-old civil war.
Italy wants to launch dialogue and “give confidence to the new administration, to ensure that Syria’s territorial unity can be consolidated,” Tajani continued.
“With Austria and with the support of Portugal we have also sent a letter to (EU foreign policy chief) Kaja Kallas,” he said.
“Our goal is to open a dialogue with this country: the first signs have been positive,” Tajani underlined.
Syria’s de facto foreign minister Asaad al-Shaybani has accepted an invitation from Tajani to visit Rome “to see how we can work for the stability of that country, which is key for the entire Middle East’s stability”, Tajani concluded.
