DAMASCUS: The United Nations special envoy for Syria on Sunday called for a quick end to Western sanctions after the ouster of President Bashar Assad.
The Syrian government has been under strict sanctions by the United States, European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and later spiraled into a civil war.
The conflict has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million. Rebuilding has been stymied to a large degree by sanctions that aimed to prevent rebuilding of damaged infrastructure and property in government-held areas in the absence of a political solution.
“We can hopefully see a quick end to the sanctions so that we can see really a rallying around building of Syria,” UN envoy Geir Pedersen told reporters during a visit to Damascus.
Pedersen came to the Syrian capital to meet with officials with the new interim government set up by the former opposition forces who toppled Assad, led by the Islamic militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS.
HTS is designated a terrorist group by the US, which could also complicate reconstruction efforts, but officials in Washington have indicated that the Biden administration is considering removing the designation.
The interim government is set to govern until March, but it has not yet made clear the process under which a new permanent administration would replace it.
“We need to get the political process underway that is inclusive of all Syrians,” Pedersen said. “That process obviously needs to be led by the Syrians themselves.”
He called for “justice and accountability for crimes” committed during the war and for the international community to step up humanitarian aid.
UN special envoy for Syria calls for sanctions relief following Assad’s fall
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UN special envoy for Syria calls for sanctions relief following Assad’s fall
- The Syrian government has been under strict sanctions by the US, EU and others for years
- ‘We can hopefully see a quick end to the sanctions so that we can see really a rallying around building of Syria’
Iran security chief says US, Israel seeking ‘disintegration of Iran’
- “Their issue was... the fundamental disintegration of Iran,” said Larijani
- He said the US was seeking to replicate in Iran a scenario similar to Venezuela
TEHRAN: Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani said on Saturday that the United States and Israel were seeking to break the Islamic republic apart.
“Their issue was... the fundamental disintegration of Iran,” said Larijani in a pre-recorded interview broadcast on state TV.
On February 28, the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran that killed its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggered a war in the Middle East.
Iran responded with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel as well as US interests across the region.
He said the US was seeking to replicate in Iran a scenario similar to Venezuela, where interim president Delcy Rodriguez has cooperated with him under threat of violence after Washington ousted her boss, Nicolas Maduro.
“I think the most important problem the Americans have is that they do not understand the context of West Asia, especially Iran,” said Larijani.
“Their perception was that it would be like Venezuela — they would strike, take control, and it would be over --but now they are trapped.”
