A six-phase “road map” prepared by the EU’s foreign service advocates a “staged approach” to lifting sanctions on the country “to incentivise peaceful transition and reconstruction”. An arms embargo, sanctions on equipment used for internal repression and measures targeting Assad regime officials would be exempt, the document states.

The European Union on Monday agreed to gradually suspend sanctions on Syria weeks after the ousting of long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad by rebel forces. "We reached the political agreement to begin easing sanctions on Syria.

European Union foreign ministers have agreed to begin lifting sanctions on Syria, but insist that the measures should be reimposed if they see any abuses by the country’s new rulers