U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called for a transitional agency in support of Syria, warning that the country is only weeks away from a "potential collapse and a full-scale epic civil war."

During a hearing on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he defended President Donald Trump's decision to lift sanctions on Syria last week, before meeting with President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, former Al-Qaeda commander who led the rebel offensive that overthrew Bashar al-Assad in December.

Rubio explained that Trump's reason was that other countries wanted to help salad's government and aid, but were afraid of sanctions.

Syrian officials did not immediately comment.

The atrocities caused by the U.S. forces loyal to Assad have imposed sanctions on Syria during the country's devastating 13-year civil war, of which 600,000 were killed and another 12 million were forced to leave their homes.

The State Council had previously insisted on several conditions encountered before the elimination of religion and ethnic minorities.

Despite Sharaa's promise to do so, the country has been struck by two deadly waves of sectarian violence in recent months.

In March, during the battle between security forces and former regime loyalists, nearly 900 civilians, mainly members of the Assad Alaves sect, were killed in pro-government forces in the western coastal areas, a monitoring team said. Loyalists reportedly killed nearly 450 civilians and 170 security personnel.

In early May, more than 100 people were reportedly killed between gunmen in two suburbs of the Druze religious minority, new security forces and Allied Sunni Islamic fighters.

Even before the violence, many members of the minority community were concerned about new transition agencies, led by Sharaa's Sunni Islamic group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). It is a former Al Qaeda affiliate and is still designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom.

Sarah herself also continues to be listed by the United States as a "specially designated global terrorist", although the Biden administration announced in December that the United States would abolish the bounty of $10 million (£7.5 million) of bounty.

Despite Sharaa's past, Trump met with him at a summit of the leaders of the Gulf of Saudi Arabia last week.

Afterwards, the U.S. president told reporters that he was a "young, attractive person" and added: "Tough guy. Past. Past was strong. Fighter."

"He really put it together (Syria)" he said.

Meanwhile, Sharaa said Trump's decision to lift sanctions on Syria "is a historic and brave decision that eases the suffering of the people, contributes to their rebirth and lays the foundation for the stability of the region".

"The bad news is the number of transition agencies ... not passing the FBI through their background checks," Rubio quipped in a speech at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.

He added: “But, on the other hand, if we interact with them, it may resolve.

“In fact, our assessment is that, frankly, the transition agency could be weeks, months, a distance from potential collapse and a full-blown epic civil war, basically state-divided.”

He did not elaborate, but said Syria's minorities "deal with internal distrust...because Assad deliberately made these groups confront each other."

He said Trump decided to lift sanctions quickly because "countries in the region want to get aid and want to start helping them. And they can't be afraid of our sanctions because they're afraid of them."

In his speech, the EU's foreign minister agreed to lift economic sanctions on Syria.

"We want to help the Syrian people rebuild a new, inclusive and peaceful Syria," Kaja Kallas, the group's foreign policy head, wrote on X.

“For the past 14 years, the EU has been standing in Syrians and will continue to do so.”

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said the decision marked the beginning of a "new chapter in Syria-European relations based on common prosperity and mutual respect".