Germany's Syria envoy warns on sanctions hopes after visit to Damascus

New leaders seek a reverse of Syrian isolation that was directed at the Assad regime

Ahmad Al Shara, leader of the Hayat Tahrir Al Sham militant group that toppled Syria's Bashar Al Assad, meets UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen in Damascus on December 15. AFP

Mr Al Shara with Stephen Hickey, centre, director of the Middle East and North Africa department at Britain's Foreign Office, and Ann Snow, UK special representative for Syria. AFP

The Syria rebel leader speaks with the delegation from the UK Foreign Office.

Mr Al Shara receives Germany's Middle East envoy Tobias Tunkel, in Damascus.

The Syrian rebel chief, second left, with members of a German Foreign Ministry delegation, in Damascus. AFP

Discussions to possibly lift EU sanctions against Syria are under way but are unlikely to resolve soon, Germany's special envoy to Syria, Stefan Schneck, has told The National.

The request to lift sanctions was made publicly this week by Syria's de facto new leader, Ahmad Al Shara, formerly known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed Al Jawlani. He argued that the sanctions against the Syrian state were directed at the Assad regime, which is now gone, so they should also go.

“The lifting of sanctions is a topic we are looking into already with our EU partners. It will take some time,” Mr Schneck said, speaking days after his first visit to the Syrian capital Damascus in more than a decade.

“There are some sanctions we will not lift, like against [former president] Bashar Al Assad,” he added. “Everybody understands that. But we're looking at other areas to help stabilising Syria.”

The EU cut diplomatic ties with Damascus as the country slipped into civil war. The bloc issued a large number of sanctions, including against Syria's energy and banking sector. Sanctions represent an important hurdle with more than 80 per cent of Syrians live under the poverty line.

EU sanctions on Syria are unlikely to be lifted in one go. Observers expect sanctions on human rights violators, such as ex-president Assad, as well as the weapons embargo to remain. Sectoral sanctions to boost private investment and humanitarian support could be lifted as part of an engagement process.

Sanctions have also been issued by the US, which unlike the EU's sanctions, apply all over the world, to anyone dealing with Syria. They target Syria's economy, banking and energy, among other sectors.

Speaking from his office in Berlin, Mr Schneck said he had met Mr Al Shara in Damascus on Tuesday, though the foreign office did not publish pictures of the meeting. “It would send the wrong message if all the attention was focused on that meeting,” said Mr Schneck, a career diplomat and Middle East expert.

Mr Schneck was part of a German delegation of diplomats led by Tobias Tunkel, the German foreign office's Middle East representative. While many European countries sent delegates to Syria after the fall of the Assad regime on December 8, some countries such as France made the choice to not meet Mr Al Shara and spoke instead to his foreign affairs representative, Zaid Al Attar.

Like most EU countries, Germany closed its embassy and cut off diplomatic ties with the Assad regime in 2012 after its brutal repression of peaceful protesters. “It was quite an emotional visit, because I've tracked the Syrian tragedy for all this time,” Mr Schneck said. A career diplomat, Mr Schneck has previously been posted in Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, Syria and Libya. While in Damascus on Tuesday, Mr Schneck also met representatives of ethnic and religious minorities, the White Helmets and Syrian civil society.

Germany's policy expectations

Europeans are wary of Mr Al Shara and the rebel group that he leads, Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS), which has been listed as a terror organisation since 2014 by the UN, the EU and the US because of its former links to Al Qaeda. Since the rebels' takeover of Damascus and the escape of Mr Al Assad and his family to Russia, Mr Al Shara has attempted to polish his image and said he would protect minorities.

Unlike under the Assad regime, foreign diplomats are now free to walk the Syrian capital without government oversight. The lack of security has also been a topic of concern among some, who have noted HTS's struggle to field enough policemen from its former stronghold of Idlib to Damascus.

The details of German diplomats' discussions with Mr Al Shara remain confidential, but Mr Schneck said that he had put forward his country's policy expectations during their meeting. The German foreign affairs ministry earlier this week unveiled an eight-point plan on Syria in which it called for a peaceful handover of power, the protection of minorities and women, and preserving Syria’s territorial integrity.

“Inclusion is not just a nice idea. It is important to make the whole process a success. If inclusion doesn't work, we have the Libya scenario,” Mr Schneck said. “We discussed that, of course, and our offer of support.”

Syria's sovereignty appeared immediately imperilled after the rebel takeover of Damascus, when the Israeli military moved into a buffer zone in the Golan Heights. Israel plans to stay there for the foreseeable future, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday. Germany's foreign affairs minister Annalena Baerbock has warned against a permanent occupation.

Syria also hosts Russian military bases, which some EU countries have said must close before the bloc lifts any sanctions against Syria. While ousting Russia would be viewed favourably in Berlin, westerners should be wary of issuing too many red lines on engagement with Syria, Mr Schneck said. “As a diplomat, I would refrain from setting conditions in stone,” he said. “Syrian society cannot deliver everything at once.”

For now, western countries, including Germany, are cautiously contemplating reopening their embassies in Damascus. In a video that he posted on X and that was shared again hundreds of times, Mr Schneck spoke outside Germany's embassy in Damascus, saying that it would take time to re-open but that Berlin's commitment to Syria was “unwavering”. Unlike many other western diplomats, Mr Schneck posts videos in Arabic, which he started studying 15 years ago in Riyadh. “I did not want to raise expectations. The embassy's reopening will be an incremental process,” he said.

The embassy appeared untouched though everything inside was covered in a thick layer of dust, he added. It will need a thorough security check before a possible reopening. “It appeared functional at first glance,” Mr Schneck said. “The embassy is of course, very symbolic, but also not a precondition for our presence. We can be present in hotels or maybe also take another building. We are not sure if we can take this building back.”

Mr Schneck also put forward German expertise in transitional justice, referring to his own country's reckoning with two dictatorships in the past century. “There has to be a good process, ideally an institution,” he said. The fall of the Assad regime has led to the unearthing of mass graves where hundreds of thousands of people who have died in detention and under torture have been buried.

Syria's ability to transcend decades of trauma will depend largely on the international community's support in the coming weeks. “It's a time of dangers but also a time of opportunities,” Mr Schneck said. “We have to put Syria first.”