The European Union is standing firm on sanctions against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and will not support reconstruction for the war-torn country until the dictator in Damascus steps aside.
“There will be no end to sanctions, no normalizations and no support for reconstruction until a political transition is underway,” Josep Borrell, the EU’s top foreign affairs official, said Tuesday at a European Parliament debate marking the 10th anniversary of Syria’s unresolved civil war.