EU to consider ‘all options’ on Syria but drops sanctions threat

EU leaders agreed Thursday to consider all options against Syria and its allies including Russia if atrocities in Aleppo continue, president Donald Tusk said, but backed down from threatening sanctions.

After a summit in Brussels, Tusk said the 28 leaders “strongly condemned the attacks by the Syrian regime and its allies, notably Russia, on civilians in Aleppo.

“The European Union is calling for an end to the atrocities and immediate cessation of hostilities. It considers all available options if these atrocities continue,” he added.

But the leaders dropped a mention of possible sanctions which had appeared in an earlier draft of the summit conclusions at the request of Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, EU sources told AFP.

The conclusions echoed Tusk’s statement and spoke only of looking at “all available options” and saying that “those responsible for breaches of international humanitarian law and human rights law must be held accountable.”

Tusk said the leaders meanwhile agreed to “keep the unity of the EU” on Russia during a wider discussion of their strategy after two years of tensions that started with the crisis in Ukraine.

They brought up Russian “airspace violations, disinformation campaigns, cyberattacks, inteference in political processes in the Balkans and beyond” and other issues.

“Given these examples it is clear that Russia’s strategy is to weaken the EU,” former Polish premier Tusk said.

“We have a sober assessment of the reality and no illusions. Increasing tensions with Russia is not our aim, we are simply reacting to steps taken by Russia.”