‘Ready to engage’: Syrian Foreign Minister calls for lifting of sanctions | Syrian war news

The new Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani spoke exclusively to Al Jazeera about the new administration’s goals, orientation and progress so far.

Speaking to Al Jazeera reporter Hashem Ahelbarra on New Year’s Day, just over three weeks after Syria’s long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad has been overthrownal-Shaibani was eager to outline progress so far.

The interim administration – led by the commander-in-chief, Ahmed al-Sharaa – is expected to hold talks on January 5 to discuss Syria’s future agenda at a key national dialogue conference, which will clarify much about the way forward.

Sanctions are no longer helping the Syrian people

After a brutal wave of repression against protesters in 2011 that sent Syria spiraling into war, Australia, Canada, the European Union, Switzerland and the United States imposed sanctions on the al-Assad regime.

The goal at the time, al-Shaibani said, was to send a message of support to the Syrian people who were suffering under a repressive regime.

But now, he argued, the main reason for them was gone; thousands of detainees held by al-Assad in “human slaughterhouses” across the country were free, and the country was working to repair the damage.

As such, “continuous implementation [of sanctions] has become meaningless and ineffective,” al-Shaibani noted.

The US designated Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – the group led by al-Shara that led the offensive against al-Assad – as a terrorist organization in 2018 and set a $10 million bounty on it, which could complicate the lifting of sanctions.

However, Barbara Leaf, US Assistant Secretary of State for Middle Eastern Affairs, and other officials visited Damascus on December 20, after which announced the rejection of the award and signaled Washington’s willingness to engage.

“We fully support a Syrian-led and owned political process that results in an inclusive and representative government that respects the rights of all Syrians, including women, and Syria’s diverse ethnic and religious communities,” Leaf said.

Socializing with the world

One of the key priorities of the new administration is to remain open to cooperation with everyone and to rebuild relations with the outside world, al-Shaibani said.

He is due to visit Saudi Arabia in the coming days, during which, Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra said in Damascus, the top diplomat may be able to make progress on Syria’s readmission to the Arab League.

Relations with the USA, he pointed out, will probably be key, but it remains to be seen how they will develop.

“Syria today is open to everything and ready to cooperate with all sides, although certainly the development of this administration would probably depend on the American side.

“We are ready to improve this relationship as long as the new American administration shows the will,” Ahelbarra said, referring to the future administration of President-elect Donald Trump.

Speaking about concerns often raised by non-Syrians about the potential for violence against minorities in Syria, he acknowledged that they had been raised in talks with the US.

However, he clarified, the new administration is determined to treat everyone as Syrians and not as minority groups.

“[A]n America’s focus on these issues could inadvertently reinforce divisions within Syrian society and contribute to its fragmentation,” he said.

Muhanad Seloom of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies noted that the new Syrian administration has come a long way in terms of appealing to the international community.

“For the Syrian administration… I think they have come a long way [and] also showed restraint in terms of protecting ethnic groups in Syria by not allowing anyone to take the law into their own hands,” he told Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera’s Ahelbarra added that as the happiness of al-Assad’s fall wears off, Syrians will begin to look to their new interim government for support.

“Today is January 1, 2025, and from today, and in the coming days, people will start asking more questions about the challenges ahead.

“This new administration has promised a 400 percent increase in state salaries. But when they took over the central bank, the coffers were empty…everything was embezzled by the Assad regime,” he noted.