The EU says it will lift sanctions on Syria but leave those on the former Assad regime

BARCELONA (AP) — The European Union will lift sanctions on Syria's economy but keep those in place targeting the former Assad regime, the EU's top diplomat announced Tuesday.

Foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas spoke after chairing a meeting of foreign ministers from the 27-member bloc. She said the decision was designed to avert poverty and radicalism in the country after more than a decade of civil war sent millions fleeing, including to Europe.

The sanctions are “conditional” and could be resumed if the new government of Ahmad al-Sharaa doesn’t keep the peace, Kallas said.

“Saving lives must be our top priority on Syria," she said.

The announcement came a week after U.S. President Donald Trump's meeting with al-Sharaa and his announcement that the U.S. would ease sanctions on Syria. Lifting sanctions could bring much-needed investment to Syria, which needs tens of billions of dollars to restore its battered infrastructure.

An insurgency late last year unseated former Syrian President Bashar Assad and ended the civil war that decimated much of the country’s infrastructure. The United Nations estimates that 90% of Syrians live in poverty and state-supplied electricity comes as little as two hours every day.

Earlier in the day, Kallas acknowledged concerns about sectarian conflict but said “we don't have a choice” but to lift sanctions and bolster the Syrian economy: “We actually either give them possibility to stabilize the country or we don’t do that and we have something like what we have in Afghanistan.”

Kallas added: “There can be no peace without the path to economic recovery, and we all need a stable Syria."

She did not provide details or timing on the lifting of sanctions. But a European Council statement said it would keep “sanctions based on security grounds, including arms and technology that might be used for internal repression. In addition, the EU will introduce additional targeted restrictive measures against human rights violators and those fueling instability in Syria.”

Syrians had celebrated in streets across the country after Trump's announcement, and Arab leaders in neighboring nations that host millions of refugees who fled Syria’s war praised it.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas speaks with the media as she arrives for a meeting of EU defense ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off another warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braces for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as Venezuela's leader.

Cuba, a major beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, has now been cut off from those shipments as U.S. forces continue to seize tankers in an effort to control the production, refining and global distribution of the country's oil products.

Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!”

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO!” Trump said in the post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal.

The Cuban government said 32 of its military personnel were killed during the American operation last weekend that captured Maduro. The personnel from Cuba’s two main security agencies were in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as part of an agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.

“Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” Trump said Sunday. “Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will.”

Trump also responded to another account’s social media post predicting that his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will be president of Cuba: “Sounds good to me!” Trump said.

Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive tone toward Cuba, which had been kept economically afloat by Venezuela. Long before Maduro's capture, severe blackouts were sidelining life in Cuba, where people endured long lines at gas stations and supermarkets amid the island’s worst economic crisis in decades.

Trump has said previously that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, would slide further with the ouster of Maduro.

“It’s going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It’s going down for the count.”

A person watches the oil tanker Ocean Mariner, Monrovia, arrive to the bay in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

President Donald Trump attends a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)