Syria sanctions relief vital as risk of 'epic' civil war looms, Rubio warns

US Secretary of State met senior Syrian transitional authorities in Saudi Arabia last week

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday said the lifting of sanctions on Syria was a crucial step towards saving the transitional government, warning a civil war could be only weeks away.

Speaking to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr Rubio said President Donald Trump had made a “bold decision” by ordering the lifting of all sanctions against Syria and its government. Mr Rubio and Mr Trump met Syrian transitional leaders, including Ahmad Al Shara, a US-designated terrorist, in Riyadh last week.

Mr Al Shara and the Syrian leadership have a “tough history”, Mr Rubio said. “The flip side of it is, if we engage them, it may work out. It may not work out. If we did not engage them, it was guaranteed to not work out.”

He warned that Syria faces the risk of all-out civil war if the transitional government is not supported. “It is our assessment that, frankly, the transitional authority, given the challenges they're facing, are maybe weeks, not many months, away from potential collapse and a full-scale civil war of epic proportions, basically the country splitting up,” Mr Rubio said.

A series of attacks by pro-government militias on the Alawite and Druze minorities have rocked Syria in recent weeks. Mr Rubio also pointed to the risks posed by ISIS, which remains a threat across parts of Syria and Iraq. He said Syria is in a race against time to prevent the extremist group from strengthening.

"Every day that goes by that the transitional authority does not have control of the government or of daily life [or] are able to provide basic government services is a day that ISIS has the ability to reconstitute itself and grow as a threat both to the transitional authority, but ultimately to the broader region," he said.

Mr Rubio, who also met Syria's Foreign Minister in Turkey on Thursday, blamed the renewed violence on the legacy of Bashar Al Assad, a largely secular leader who is Alawite. "They are dealing with deep internal distrust in that country, because Assad deliberately pitted these groups against each other," Mr Rubio said.

He also spoke about the security challenges involved in reopening the US embassy in Damascus. Currently, embassy functions for Syria are run from Turkey.