EU promises funds to Syria if Assad joins UN talks

The European Union's top diplomat on Friday raised the prospect of mobilising donor funds to rebuild Syria on the condition that fighting stops and Russia ensures its ally Bashar al-Assad engages in stalled UN peace talks.

Federica Mogherini will host an international conference on Syria on 24 and 25 April in Brussels and said she could seek pledges for early recovery in Syria in addition to humanitarian aid.

"We are ready and we're willing to also use the conference to mobilise resources for early recovery, especially in the areas liberated from Daesh (Islamic State group)," Mogherini said.

"But we need to see improvements on the ground and the trend we see today is the exact opposite," she told a news conference. "At the moment we're not seeing de-escalation. At the moment we're seeing escalation."

The EU is seeking to leverage its aid donor role to revive stalled UN-led talks, which have achieved little over seven years of war.

The talks hit a deadlock as Russian and Iranian military interventions gave Assad the upper hand on the ground.

Last year's Syria conference in Brussels saw the EU pledge 1.2 billion Euros ($1.46 billion) for 2017, with Mogherini saying the bloc would offer new money this year and expected participants from more than 70 other countries to do the same.

The 2017 event lacked top-level delegations from Russia, Turkey and the United States and was overshadowed by a chemical attack inside Syria.

The EU has been supporting the Syrian opposition to help it become more united and prepared for UN talks, Mogherini added.

"(But) there is clearly something we cannot deliver as Europeans because we have no influence and no contacts with the Syrian regime."

The Syrian war, which has seen millions displaced, began in 2011 as the regime crushed anti-government protests.