PARIS: France said on Wednesday it would host an international meeting on Syria in January and that the lifting of sanctions and reconstruction aid would be conditional on clear political and security commitments by the transitional authority.
A team of French diplomats met an official from the Syrian transition team on Tuesday in Damascus and raised the flag over the French embassy there 12 years after cutting ties with Syria’s Bashar Assad amid the country’s civil war.
Acting Foreign Minister Jan-Noel Barrot told parliament that the diplomats had seen positive signals from the transitional authority and that in the capital, at least, Syrians appeared to be resuming their normal life without being impeded.
“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 Turkiye, Arab and Western states. It was not immediately clear whether Syrians would attend or what the precise objective of the conference would be.
Western nations have welcomed Assad’s fall but are weighing whether they can work with the militants who ousted him, including Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), an extremist group that is designated a terrorist organization by the EU.
Barrot said an inclusive transition would be vital and that Western powers had many tools at their disposal to ease the situation, notably the lifting of international sanctions and aid reconstruction.
“But we are making this support conditional on clear commitments on the political and security front,” he said.
Kurds
Since cutting ties with Assad in 2012, France has backed a broadly secular exiled opposition and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeastern Syria, for which it has given military support in the past.
The SDF is the main ally in a US coalition against Daesh militants in Syria. It is spearheaded by the YPG militia, a group that Turkiye, a NATO ally, sees as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), whose militants have battled the Turkish state for 40 years.
France’s ties with the SDF persist. Barrot stressed that the political transition needed to ensure they were represented, especially given they had been at the forefront in the fight against Daesh, and were currently guarding thousands of hardened militants in prisons and camps.
“We know of Ankara’s security concerns toward the PKK, but we are convinced that it’s possible to find an arrangement that satisfies the interests of everyone. We are working on it,” Barrot said.
“This stabilization also means including the SDF in the Syrian political process,” he said, adding that President Emmanuel Macron had made this point in talks with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday.
![]()
France to host Syria meeting, cautious on aid, sanctions lifting
Short Url
https://arab.news/8admv
France to host Syria meeting, cautious on aid, sanctions lifting
- “We will not judge them by their words but by their actions, and over time,” Barrot said
- January meeting would be a follow-up to a meeting in Jordan last week that included Turkiye, Arab and Western states
Induction stoves fly off shelves in India as gas shortage fears spark panic buying
CHENNAI: Indian households are rushing to buy electric induction stoves, draining stocks online and in stores, amid fears of a potential cooking gas shortage tied to the Middle East conflict.
India, the world’s second-largest importer of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), has invoked emergency powers to boost supplies for households even as availability tightens for commercial users including canteens, hostels and restaurants.
Meanwhile, consumers are buying electric cooking appliances as a precaution, with some households worried about refill delays and higher prices.
Checks by Reuters on Thursday showed several induction stove models were unavailable on Amazon, Walmart-backed Flipkart, Eternal’s Blinkit and Zepto, while some offline chains said fresh supplies were still days away.
Induction stove sales on Amazon India have jumped more than 30-fold, while rice cookers and electric pressure cookers are up fourfold, a company spokesperson said.
Kitchen appliances maker TTK Prestige said demand for induction stoves had surged far beyond supply.
“There is a threefold surge (in demand),” CEO Venkatesh Vijayaraghavan told Reuters.
The company has raised its production capacity to 100 percent from about 70 percent before the start of the war, and increased staffing by roughly 15 percent. It also plans to raise prices of induction stoves in the June quarter to offset any higher costs.
Induction stoves accounted for about a tenth of TTK’s 25.30 billion rupees ($274.52 million) standalone revenue in 2024–25.
Online shopping platforms also showed models from Butterfly , Havells India and Bajaj Electricals marked as “currently unavailable.”
Google Trends showed search interest for induction stoves hit a record high on March 12, while some restaurant chains, including Wow Momo and California Burrito, said they were exploring induction stoves as a contingency plan.
Anand Rathi analyst Manish Valecha said large kitchen appliance makers with domestic assembly and strong distribution, including TTK Prestige, Butterfly and Stove Kraft, are best placed to benefit from the surge in induction cooktop demand. But reliance on imported components could pose supply risks if the spike persists, he added.
TTK Prestige will switch from sea shipments to airlifting components sourced from China and Southeast Asia, absorbing higher costs to ensure supplies if disruptions persist, Vijayaraghavan said.
The Middle East conflict has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf, raising costs and tightening oil and gas supplies from the Middle East.
On Thursday, the Suezmax tanker Shenlong reached Mumbai with Saudi crude, becoming the first crude carrier to arrive in India from the Middle East since the war between Iran and the United States and Israel erupted in late February, LSEG data showed.
India, the world’s second-largest importer of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), has invoked emergency powers to boost supplies for households even as availability tightens for commercial users including canteens, hostels and restaurants.
Meanwhile, consumers are buying electric cooking appliances as a precaution, with some households worried about refill delays and higher prices.
Checks by Reuters on Thursday showed several induction stove models were unavailable on Amazon, Walmart-backed Flipkart, Eternal’s Blinkit and Zepto, while some offline chains said fresh supplies were still days away.
Induction stove sales on Amazon India have jumped more than 30-fold, while rice cookers and electric pressure cookers are up fourfold, a company spokesperson said.
Kitchen appliances maker TTK Prestige said demand for induction stoves had surged far beyond supply.
“There is a threefold surge (in demand),” CEO Venkatesh Vijayaraghavan told Reuters.
The company has raised its production capacity to 100 percent from about 70 percent before the start of the war, and increased staffing by roughly 15 percent. It also plans to raise prices of induction stoves in the June quarter to offset any higher costs.
Induction stoves accounted for about a tenth of TTK’s 25.30 billion rupees ($274.52 million) standalone revenue in 2024–25.
Online shopping platforms also showed models from Butterfly , Havells India and Bajaj Electricals marked as “currently unavailable.”
Google Trends showed search interest for induction stoves hit a record high on March 12, while some restaurant chains, including Wow Momo and California Burrito, said they were exploring induction stoves as a contingency plan.
Anand Rathi analyst Manish Valecha said large kitchen appliance makers with domestic assembly and strong distribution, including TTK Prestige, Butterfly and Stove Kraft, are best placed to benefit from the surge in induction cooktop demand. But reliance on imported components could pose supply risks if the spike persists, he added.
TTK Prestige will switch from sea shipments to airlifting components sourced from China and Southeast Asia, absorbing higher costs to ensure supplies if disruptions persist, Vijayaraghavan said.
The Middle East conflict has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf, raising costs and tightening oil and gas supplies from the Middle East.
On Thursday, the Suezmax tanker Shenlong reached Mumbai with Saudi crude, becoming the first crude carrier to arrive in India from the Middle East since the war between Iran and the United States and Israel erupted in late February, LSEG data showed.
Latest updates
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.