The EU has agreed to lift sanctions on Syria's interior and defence ministers as part of a broader policy shift towards Damascus.

"We also agreed to lift the sanctions on Syria’s interior and defence ministers," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told reporters on Monday following a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

Kallas added that the decision is linked to efforts to reset relations and support political transition in the country after years of suspension under the Bashar Assad era.

EU ministers also agreed to fully resume the EU-Syria Cooperation Agreement, previously partially suspended, and to launch a high-level political dialogue with Syrian authorities later in the day.

EU’s commitment to re-engage with Syria

The suspension, introduced in 2011 and expanded in 2012 over the Assad regime’s human rights violations, targeted trade-related provisions involving Syrian exports, including oil, petroleum products, gold, precious metals and diamonds.

“The decision sends a clear political signal of the EU’s commitment to re-engage with Syria and support its economic recovery,” the council said in a statement.

The council said the conditions that led to the suspension “are no longer present” following Assad’s fall in December 2024 and the EU’s decision earlier this year to lift economic sanctions on Syria, except those maintained on security grounds.

According to the council, restoring the agreement is part of the bloc’s broader policy of supporting “a peaceful and inclusive transition in Syria” and helping the country’s socio-economic recovery.