ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The British government on Thursday announced the removal of sanctions of two dozen Syrian entities, including the country’s central bank, marking a milestone in the western diplomatic relations with Syria following the downfall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.
The UK Treasury declared that sanctions had been lifted from Syria’s central bank and 23 other banking, commercial, and oil entities, whose assets had been frozen for six years.
The UK government initially imposed the sanctions on Syria in 2019 to penalize “individuals and entities involved in repressing the civilian population in Syria” during the 2011 uprising against Assad’s rule, as well as those who “supported or benefited” from his regime.
The move by the UK follows a similar step by the European Union in late February, which suspended several restrictive measures targeting key energy and transport sectors, as well as a number of Syrian banks, including the Industrial Bank, Popular Credit Bank, Saving Bank, Agricultural Cooperative Bank, as well as the Syrian Arab Airlines. These entities were also included in London’s sanctions relief list.
However, the EU emphasized that it would proceed cautiously, warning that it could reinstate sanctions if the new Syrian government failed to establish “an inclusive government” that accommodates the country’s various ethnic and religious groups, according to the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas.
The diplomatic shift comes after the swift overthrow of the Assad regime by a coalition of opposition groups led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in early December. In late January, HTS leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, was appointed as Syria’s interim president. Sharaa vowed to hold “free and fair elections” to pave the way for the formation of an inclusive government and the drafting of a new Syrian constitution.
On Sunday, Sharaa formed a seven-member committee tasked with drafting a constitutional declaration for the country’s transitional period. The move came days after the National Dialogue Conference, held earlier that week. While the conference was praised for pledging reforms, it was also criticized by some groups in Syria - particularly Kurdish political parties - which deemed it exclusionary and rushed.
