DAMASCUS
\nThe European Union has lifted sanctions on Syrian airline Cham Wings, representatives for the EU and the airline said on Wednesday, after the privately owned company was blacklisted over accusations it was helping smuggle migrants into the bloc.
\nThe EU imposed the sanctions in December, accusing it of flying people to Belarus so they could then illegally cross the EU\u2019s external borders in what flared up into a migration and humanitarian crisis
\nThe airline had already been blacklisted by the United States, who said the Syrian government had used the airline to transport militants, weapons, and other equipment during the conflict raging in the country since 2011.
\nThe EU decision to remove it from the sanctions list was signed on July 18 by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, according to a statement by an EU spokesperson.
\n\u201cThe Council took the decision to delist Cham Wings, as it considered that the restrictive measures brought the desired effect with regards to this entity. According to information presented to the Council, Cham Wings ceased its involvement in the activities for which it was listed,\u201d the spokesperson said.
\nThe airline, which currently operates with three aircraft to destinations mostly in the Middle East, welcomed the de-listing.
\nIts business development and public relations director Osama Satea said on Wednesday the airline had objected to the EU\u2019s original blacklisting and said the reversal was \u201ca glimmer of hope\u201d.
\nIt showed Cham Wings was \u201centirely innocent\u201d, but would not immediately lead to flights to Europe, Satea told Reuters.
\n\u201cThis will allow us to request permission to operate in some airports. It\u2019ll be better and easier after our name was struck off the (sanctions) list,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DAMASCUS The European Union has lifted sanctions on Syrian airline Cham Wings, representatives for the EU and the airline said on Wednesday, after the privately owned company was blacklisted over accusations it was helping smuggle migrants into the bloc. The EU imposed the sanctions in December, accusing it of flying people to Belarus so they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272481,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-272463","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n