Eight member states of the European Union have called on the bloc to “review and assess” its policy towards Syria in a letter sent to the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell. The letter, originally seen by Euractiv, was signed by the foreign ministers of Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia. It appears to suggest that the EU should take a more lenient approach to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, who has been under EU sanctions since 2011, over his brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests and atrocities committed during the ensuing Syrian co…