By Voice of America (Europe) | Created at 2025-01-03 08:56:32 | Updated at 2025-01-05 17:08:43
2 days ago
DAMASCUS, SYRIA —
The foreign ministers of France and Germany are headed to Damascus on the first official visit to Syria by top diplomats from European Union countries after the fall of former President Bashar Assad, in what the German minister said is a clear signal that a "new beginning" between Europe and Syria is possible.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who began the visit Friday with a meeting with Christian religious leaders in Damascus, said in a statement on the social media platform X that the two countries "want to promote a peaceful and urgent transition in the service of Syrians and for regional stability."
He and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock are expected to meet with Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, the Islamist former insurgent group that is now the de facto ruling party in Syria.
Baerbock said there can be a "political new beginning between Europe and Syria" only if the new Syrian society gives all people, regardless of ethnic or religious group, "a place in the political process" as well as rights and protection.
She said those rights should not be undermined by an overly long transition to elections or by "steps toward the Islamification of the justice or education system," that there should be no acts of revenge against entire groups of the population, and that extremism should have no place.
Since Assad’s ouster in a lightning offensive by opposition forces, Damascus has experienced a flurry of visits from Arab and Western countries that had cut off relations with Assad’s government during the country’s nearly 14-year civil war.
However, Western countries have so far not lifted sanctions placed on Syria under Assad or removed the designation of HTS as a terrorist group, although the United States lifted a $10 million bounty it had previously placed on al-Sharaa.
