Syria is joining a donor conference for the first time in a crucial step for its new leaders

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union hosts a donor conference for Syria on Monday to muster support to ensure a peaceful transition after President Bashar Assad was ousted by an insurgency last December.

Ministers and representatives from Western partners, as well as Syria’s regional neighbors, other Arab countries and U.N. agencies will take part in the one-day meeting in Brussels which will be chaired by EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.

Syria will attend the conference — the ninth edition of its kind — for the first time, and will be represented by Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani. The event was organized in haste by the EU to try to take advantage of the change sweeping the country.

The gathering comes at a precarious time. Syria’s new leaders are trying to consolidate control over territory that was divided into de facto mini-states during nearly 14 years of civil war and to rebuild the country’s economy and infrastructure. The United Nations in 2017 estimated it would cost at least $250 billion to rebuild Syria, while experts say that number could reach at least $400 billion.

The prospects of economic recovery have been hampered by harsh Western sanctions that were imposed during Assad’s rule and largely have not been lifted.

The interim government will likely be looking to the Brussels conference to shore up its legitimacy in the eyes of the international community in hopes that the sanctions will be lifted, while also seeking short-term aid.

Security concerns

But the EU in particular is in a quandary as not all has gone well recently.

Last week, an ambush on a Syrian security patrol by gunmen loyal to Assad triggered clashes. Some factions allied with the new government launched sectarian revenge attacks — primarily targeting members of Assad’s Alawite minority sect — that monitoring groups say killed hundreds of civilians over several days.

In a statement, the EU called “for the full respect of Syria’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity,” saying that it will only support “a peaceful and inclusive transition, away from malign foreign interference, which guarantees the rights of all Syrians without distinction of any kind.”

Syria is also on the agenda of a meeting of EU foreign ministers that Kallas will chair separately Monday. The 27-nation bloc has begun to ease energy, transport and financial sector sanctions to encourage the new authorities, but remains wary.

The country’s interim rulers have struggled to exert their authority across much of Syria since the Islamist former insurgent group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, led a lightning insurgency against Assad.

Former HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa is now interim president, and on Thursday he signed a temporary constitution that leaves Syria under Islamist rule for five years during a transitional phase.

While many were happy to see an end to the Assad family’s dictatorial rule of more than 50 years, religious and ethnic minorities are skeptical of the new Islamist leaders and reluctant to allow Damascus under its new leadership to assert control over their areas.

The EU can reintroduce the sanctions if things do not go to the liking of Western backers. At the same time, Syria’s economy, infrastructure and institutions lie in tatters. As a failed state it could become another haven for extremists.

Economic and humanitarian needs

People must make do with only a few hours of electricity each day, water supplies are unreliable and often unsafe, unemployment runs to 80% or 90%, and destruction is widespread. Many government employees and experts needed to rebuild fled after the 2011 Arab Spring democracy movement collapsed into conflict and authoritarian rule under Assad.

The U.N. refugee agency said that last year some 7 million people had left their homes but remained in Syria. More than 4.7 million refugees are registered in neighboring countries, most in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Since Assad’s fall though, almost 302,000 have returned.

Despite the challenges, U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher, who will attend the conference, is upbeat. “It is now easier for us to operate in Syria and across Syria than it was under the Assad regime,” Fletcher told reporters last week.

“I had excellent conversations with the caretaker authorities,” he said, noting that al-Shibani in particular had helped to keep border crossings open.

While the aim of Monday’s conference is to generate aid pledges, it’s also focused on meeting Syria’s economic needs, and that requires calm. Infrastructure, health and education must be scaled up. Jobs and cash for work programs are needed so that Syrians can start to make a living.

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Sewell reported from Beirut. AP journalist Edith M. Lederer in New York contributed to this report.