Since the start of the Syrian crisis in 2011, the EU suspended all bilateral cooperation with the Assad regime. Diplomatic relations remained strained throughout the conflict, and the EU Delegation moved to Beirut, headed by a Chargé d’affaires. The EU imposed comprehensive sanctions on the Assad regime, including asset freezes and travel bans on key officials.  The European Union mobilised all the tools at its disposal to help create the conditions for a brighter future for all Syrians.

The fall of the Assad regime marks the beginning of a new chapter for the Syrian people and the broader Middle East. During the current period of transition, the EU supports efforts to establish a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned process, with the support of the UN, aimed at ensuring an orderly, peaceful and inclusive transition. The EU remains very attentive to the statements, but more importantly to the actions, of the new authorities, and insists on the need to ensure that all Syrians, from all components of society, are protected and included in the transition process.

The EU Chargé d’affaires visits Syria regularly and will enhance the EU’s presence until the EU Delegation is able to be fully operational again in Damascus. Syria’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within secure borders should be fully respected. The EU also emphasises the importance of the fight against terrorism, of the prevention of the re-emergence of terrorist groups, and of the destruction of Syria’s remaining chemical weapons stockpiles.  

The European Union has been a leading donor for providing humanitarian assistance both inside Syria and in the region, focused on addressing life-saving and life-sustaining needs. The assistance, coordinated by the Commission’s Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO), is delivered through humanitarian partners, including international NGOs, UN agencies, the ICRC and their local implementing partners. They provide the most vulnerable with health care, food assistance, water, sanitation and hygiene services, protection, shelter, education and livelihoods support. ECHO has also provided assistance for the needs of persons displaced by the conflict in Lebanon and within Syria. ECHO support includes cross line operations and cross border from Türkiye, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq.  

As everywhere else in the world, ECHO Syria operates with great autonomy, based solely on humanitarian principles of independent, impartial, neutral and needs-based assistance. The ECHO Syria Country Office in Beirut, as well as ECHO offices in Damascus, Erbil and Gaziantep, allow the EU to monitor and scale-up humanitarian aid operations inside Syria and to engage directly with humanitarian partners on the ground.  

The EU also provides significant support to refugees and their host communities in the countries neighbouring Syria, namely Lebanon, Jordan, and Türkiye, as well as Iraq and Egypt.  The EU maintains that, for now, conditions are not in place for the return of refugees and internally displaced persons in a safe, informed, dignified and voluntary way.

The EU’s non-humanitarian assistance inside Syria aims at supporting the resilience efforts of Syrian citizens wherever possible at a grassroots level.  

At the core of the assistance is the provision of medium-term support to Syrians themselves, as communities or individual agents of change in their quest to live in a peaceful and prosperous society. Thus, socio-economic rights and the right to lead a dignified life are emphasised through actions which ensure the availability of decent work and access to essential services. In a context where the on-going economic crisis continues to deteriorate, building the resilience and creating opportunities for the Syrian population are key to maintaining social cohesion.  

The main focus of the EU’s non-humanitarian assistance is on education, health, livelihoods, community and CSO support, human rights protection, women’s empowerment, transitional justice and accountability.  

Robust risk monitoring and mitigation measures form the backbone of this support, including time-sensitive analysis of programme locations and activity-specific risks, security and context developments, third-party monitoring, partners and entity vetting, as well as thematic analysis across geographies.

The Syrian conflict is one of the largest areas for the EU’s crisis response actions, managed by the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI). Activities currently include: 

• Support to accountability for crimes committed during the conflict, including by supporting the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism, created at the United Nations, which assists investigations and prosecutions of core international crimes, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed in Syria since March 2011.
• Support to stabilisation and the prevention of further radicalisation in areas in northeast Syria liberated from Da’esh by the Global Coalition with actions focusing on the rehabilitation and reintegration of vulnerable individuals, mental health and psychosocial support, support for social cohesion, and life skills and vocational training, among others.

FPI’s projects are implemented in partnership with a wide range of actors, including international and local NGOs, EU Member State agencies, and UN organisations. 

Syria continues to be a high priority for the European Union, which will organise the Ninth Brussels Conference on the Future of Syria and the region in 2025, with the objective of contributing to building a new Syria. 

The Brussels Conference is the largest foreign policy event organised by the EU annually. For more information on the Eighth Brussels Conference in 2024, please visit the conference webpage.