Syria: Renewal of sanctions proves EU ‘partnership in unjust war’

Earlier this week, the European Council prolonged the EU’s restrictive measures against Syria for one additional year, until 1 June 2022. The list now includes 283 persons targeted by both an assets freeze and a travel ban, and 70 entities subject to an assets freeze.

In a statement carried by SANA news agency on Saturday, an official source at the Syrian Foreign Ministry said the European Union’s “unilateral, inhuman coercive measures against Syria uncover false values of this institution because these coercive measures affect the Syrian citizens in their life, health and livelihood, and constitute a flagrant violation of the most basic human rights and principles of international humanitarian law.”

“Once again, the European Union institution proves its complete distance from reality, its full partnership in the unjust war on Syria, and its responsibility for the bloodshed of Syrians and destruction of their achievements,” he added.

The EU, the source said, “has lost credibility and influence in events in the region and the world due to its wrong approaches and its blind subordination to the US policy.”

The European Union first imposed sanctions on Syria in May 2011 and has since renewed them annually.

The illegal measures came two months after a foreign-sponsored militancy erupted in Syria, with Western countries and their regional allies aiding Takfiri terrorist groups.

Now, after a decade-long battle, Syrian army forces, backed by Iran and Russia, have managed to win back control of almost all regions from terrorists.

Syria held a presidential election on Wednesday, in which President Bashar al-Assad won a fourth term in office by garnering 95.1 percent of the votes with a turnout of around 78 percent.

Before the vote, the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Britain and the United States claimed that Syria’s presidential election “will neither be free nor fair.” 

In the statement, the Syrian Foreign Ministry source said the Syrian people and heroic army managed to defeat terrorism and its supporters.

The Syrians’ massive flocking to ballot boxes in the presidential poll “proved that they are more determined to foil all attempts aimed at influencing the independence of the Syrian national decision.”