EU announces 175 million euro package for Syria in 'clear message' of support

The European Union will provide Syria with 175 million euros to support its economy, health system, agriculture, institutions and promote human rights, EU commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubrayka Suica announced in Damascus on Wednesday.

Speaking to AFP on Thursday, Suica said the package was a "clear message" of support for the country's reconstruction.

"I came here... with a clear message that we are here to assist and help Syria on its recovery," Suica said.

"We want that reconstruction and recovery will be Syria-owned and Syria-led," she said, on the first visit by an EU commissioner since a transitional government was unveiled in late March.

"We want to see Syria to be a regular, normal, democratic country in the future," she added.

Syria has been navigating a delicate transition since the ouster of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, after nearly 14 years of civil war.

The European Union announced last month it would lift economic sanctions on Syria in a bid to help its recovery.

Like Syria's neighbours, Western governments are keen to steer it onto the road to stability after the war triggered an exodus of millions of refugees.

Refugee returns should be "safe, voluntary and dignified", Suica said.

The EU has not designated Syria as a safe country for returns "because we don't want to push people to come here and then they don't have a home", she said.

She said Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani would attend a ministerial meeting involving almost a dozen Mediterranean countries in Brussels on June 23.

In a joint press conference with Suica in Damascus on Thursday, al-Shaibani highlighted that the EU was "among the first to engage in supporting Syria after its liberation and the lifting of sanctions imposed on it".

The minister also stressed that Syria faces challenges driven by "external actors", including from former regime elements and other armed groups, and spoke on Israel's frequent attacks on Syria. 

Al-Shaibani said the attacks by Israel "violate Syria's sovereignty and open the way for groups that threaten its security to destabilise the country." He called for the implementation of the 1974 agreement and emphasised that Syria "does not seek war, but rather reconstruction."

Late on Wednesday evening, Israeli forces shelled the village of Kodna in Syria's Quneitra governorate, as unidentified drones flew overhead in the area.

Local sources told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that at least three shells landed in the area, with residents reporting loud explosions near the village.

Israel has repeatedly carried out strikes on Syria and incursions into Quneitra, which is partially occupied by Israel, since the overthrow of Assad.