LONDON, March 16. /TASS/. Western countries will not normalize relations with Syria until a political solution to the civil conflict in the country is found, the governments of the United Kingdom, the United States, France and Germany said in a joint statement.

"We are not normalizing relations with the [Syrian President Bashar] Assad regime, nor are we funding reconstruction of the damage inflicted by the regime during the conflict or lifting sanctions. For the benefit of the Syrian people, we will not normalize until there is authentic and enduring progress towards a political solution," reads the document, issued on the 12th anniversary of the Syrian conflict.

The four countries said they had issued emergency exemptions to their sanctions policies, which facilitate the delivery of humanitarian and disaster relief to earthquake-affected areas.

However, despite the move, their general approach to the Syrian government remained unchanged.

The four Western countries called for "a UN-facilitated, Syrian-led political process in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2254."

Anti-government protests in Syria started on March 15, 2011. They later swept all major Syrian cities. The demonstrators demanded democratic reforms and resignation of President Bashar al-Assad. Those events led to a violent confrontation between the government and the opposition, which later turned into a civil war with the involvement of international troops.