French president visits Syria ahead of NATO summit in Turkiye

The French president is the first leader from western Europe to visit Syria since the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad in ۲۰۲۴.

French President Emmanuel Macron has arrived in Syria for talks with President Ahmed al-Sharaa, in the first visit by a leader from western Europe since Syria’s former dictator, longtime President Bashar al-Assad, was ousted from power in ۲۰۲۴.

Macron was greeted at Damascus International Airport on Monday evening by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani.

The French and Syrian presidents are both scheduled to travel to Ankara on Tuesday for the NATO summit, where al-Sharaa is expected to have a high-profile meeting with US President Donald Trump.

“I have come to express France’s commitment to the Syrian people. For a sovereign Syria, united in its diversity and at peace with its neighbours,” Macron said in a post on X. “Together, let us open a new chapter of stability and peace.”

Syria’s state-run SANA news agency said Macron was travelling with a business delegation to discuss regional security as well as investment opportunities.

France and Syria’s bilateral ties

Macron hosted al-Sharaa in Paris in May ۲۰۲۵, when he urged European leaders and the United States to end longstanding sanctions on Damascus. Most of those sanctions had since been lifted.

Paris supported Syria’s new leadership even at a time when others were sceptical of al-Sharaa’s conservative rule and former role as the head of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham armed group, previously linked to al-Qaeda.

Western governments were especially concerned about the treatment and inclusion of women and minorities in Syria’s new government, and whether the country would transition into more democratic rule.

Syria has managed to avoid being drawn into the region’s recent conflicts, but the country is still battered from ۱۳ years of war that left much of it in ruins and drove millions into poverty. It will cost hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild.