As Assad holds on in Syria, EU's 'strategic patience' tested

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad meets Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran, Iran in this handout released by SANA on February 25, 2019. SANA/Handout via REUTERS

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - After eight years of civil war from which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is emerging victorious, the European Union is divided over how to deal with a man accused of using chemical weapons on his own people.

Next month the bloc hosts an international conference in Brussels to raise billions in aid for displaced Syrians, a moment of reckoning for Europe's efforts to isolate Assad as the United States pulls back its troops, diplomats say.