UN envoy calls for sanctions relief to help rebuild Syria after Assad’s ouster

Associated Press

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The United Nations envoy for Syria has called for a quick end to Western sanctions after the ouster of President Bashar Assad. The Syrian government has been under strict sanctions by the United States, European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and later spiraled into a civil war. U.N. envoy Geir Pedersen told reporters during a visit to Damascus on Sunday that “we can hopefully see a quick end to the sanctions so that we can see really a rallying around building of Syria.”