European foreign ministers have agreed to meet at the end of January to discuss the possibility of lifting sanctions on Syria following a regional meeting in Riyadh, where ministers and top diplomats from Western nations and gathered for the first such gathering since the fall of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last month, Al Jazeera reported on Sunday.

The European Union's (EU) foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, announced that the foreign ministers would meet in Brussels on January 27 to explore how the 27-member bloc might approach the issue of sanctions and emphasised that the EU wants to see an inclusive Syrian government that avoids "radicalisation" and respects the rights of women and minorities while stressing that the bloc could quickly reverse any moves to ease sanctions, as reported by Al Jazeera.