France set to host Syria meeting, cautious on aid, sanctions lifting

France said on Wednesday it would host an international meeting on Syria in January and that the lifting of sanctions and reconstruction aid would be conditional on clear political and security commitments by the transitional authority.

A team of French diplomats met an official from the Syrian transition team on Tuesday in Damascus and raised the flag over the French embassy there 12 years after cutting ties with Syria's Bashar al-Assad amid the country's civil war.

Acting Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told parliament that the diplomats had seen positive signals from the transitional authority and that in the capital, at least, Syrians appeared to be resuming their normal life without being impeded.

"We will not judge them by their words but by their actions, and over time," Barrot said.

The January meeting would be a follow-up to a meeting in Jordan last week that included Turkey, Arab and Western states. It was not immediately clear whether Syrians would attend or what the precise objective of the conference would be.

Barrot said an inclusive transition would be vital and that Western powers had many tools at their disposal to ease the situation, notably the lifting of international sanctions and aid reconstruction.

"But we are making this support conditional on clear commitments on the political and security front," he said.

Reuters