The European Union (EU) decided on Monday to suspend sanctions against Syria in the energy and transport sectors and to remove the Syrian Arab Aviation Authority and four banking institutions from the list of entities subject to the freezing of funds and economic resources.

In a statement, the EU Council said it had decided to ‘suspend restrictive measures in the energy sector, including oil, gas and electricity, and in the transport sector’.

The Council also decided ‘to remove five entities, namely the Industrial Bank, the Popular Credit Bank, the Savings Bank, the Cooperative Agricultural Bank and the Syrian Arab Aviation Corporation, from the list of entities subject to the freezing of funds and economic resources’.