EU lifts sanctions on Syria's Cham Wings airline

The European Union said Wednesday it has lifted sanctions against Syria's private airline Cham Wings, after the company was blacklisted last year for its alleged role in illegal migration to Europe.

"On 18 July, Cham Wings was removed from the list of entities subject to EU sanctions in respect of Belarus," the EU delegation to Syria said.

The EU listed Syria's only private airline last December saying it had increased flights to Minsk in the summer of 2021 to transport migrants seeking to cross from Belarus to the EU illegally.

"The sanctions were lifted from our company after we successfully denied all accusations and allegations against us," Osama Satea of Cham Wings told AFP.

"We had objected to the sanctions immediately, as they were unfair and unjust."

Last November, Cham Wings halted flights to Minsk as hundreds of migrants mostly from the Middle East remained trapped on the Belarus-Poland border trying to reach the EU.

Thousands of migrants -- including Iraqis and Syrians -- crossed or attempted to cross the EU and NATO border at the end of 2021.

Poland refused to allow them in, with the West accusing Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko of luring migrants into his country to send over the border in revenge for sanctions.

"The lifting of EU sanctions does not mean we are allowed to land in EU airports, and there are currently no direct flights between Syria and European countries," Satea said.

The airliner is still under US sanctions.

Cham Wings flights are limited to a handful of mostly Arab destinations, in addition to Tehran and Moscow, after Syria was slapped with Western sanctions following the outbreak of civil war in 2011.