America, Britain, France, and Germany: No normalization with the Syrian regime and no lifting of sanctions without a political solution

ARK News... The United States, Britain, Germany, and France confirmed their refusal to normalize relations with the Syrian regime until substantial and steady progress is achieved towards a political solution.

The foreign ministers of the four countries said, in a joint statement on the occasion of the thirteenth anniversary of the start of the “Syrian Revolution,” that their countries do not see any possibility for normalization with the Syrian regime, nor for financing reconstruction, nor for lifting sanctions until there is real, meaningful, and lasting progress towards a political solution.

The statement stressed that "a political settlement supervised and led by the Syrians, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2254, is considered the only viable mechanism that will achieve lasting peace for the Syrian people."

Pointing out that "the conditions for a safe, decent and voluntary return of refugees to Syria, with the support of the international community, have not yet been achieved, and we call on the Assad regime to make the necessary reforms to protect freedom, dignity and human rights for all."

The Western countries' statement welcomed the announcement of UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen regarding holding a meeting of the Syrian Constitutional Committee in Geneva next April, and called on "all parties to accept the invitation and engage seriously in the work of the committee."

He stated, "The peaceful demonstrations in Suwayda, which have been ongoing since last summer, show that the demands for peace, freedom, and dignity that led to the protests 13 years ago still exist."

The four countries expressed their concern "about the threats posed by the Captagon trade, from which the Assad regime, with the support of militias allied with Iran, reaps huge profits to finance its repression of the Syrian people."

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