Top diplomats from the Middle East and Europe will meet in Saudi Arabia on Sunday to discuss how to restore stability in Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
There will be two sessions today. The first session will be attended by officials from Arab countries. The second session will be wider. Representatives of Turkey, France, the European Union and the United Nations will also be among the participants, a Saudi official said on Saturday.
Syrian rebels led by Ahmed al-Shara overthrew the country’s longtime ruler Assad last month. Ahmed al-Shara is now asking the international world to lift sanctions on his country.
Diplomats have gathered in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh to discuss the issue.
In 2011, the Assad regime brutally suppressed anti-government protests in Syria. Western powers, including the United Nations and the European Union, imposed sanctions on Syria in the wake of the Assad regime’s repression. The anti-government protests sparked a civil war in Syria.
The civil war has been going on for more than 13 years. More than 500,000 people were killed in the war. The country’s economy has been devastated and millions have been forced to flee their homes. Many of them took refuge in Europe.
The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaya Kalas, said on Friday that if the current leaders form a transitional government that protects minorities, the bloc of 27 member states will start lifting the embargo.
Saudi Arabia severed ties with Syria’s Assad regime in 2012. The country has long campaigned for the overthrow of the Assad government. But in 2023, the Riyadh government invited Assad to a meeting of the Arab League to be held in that country.
