French president becomes first major western leader to visit Syria since fall of Assad

French president Emmanuel Macron has become the first major western leader to visit Syria since the ousting of Bashar al-Assad.

Mr Macron arrived in Damascus on Monday and will meet Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa at the presidential palace.

The visit underscores Syria's geopolitical transformation under Mr al Sharaa, a former al Qaeda commander who led rebel forces to topple Assad in December 2024, as the country seeks to rebuild after 13 years of war.

Mr Macron will travel next to Ankara, Turkey, for the NATO summit, where Mr al Sharaa is also expected to attend and meet Donald Trump.

The French president was greeted at Damascus airport by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani.

"I have come to express France's commitment to the Syrian people," Mr Macron said in a post on X.

"For a sovereign Syria, united in its diversity and at peace with its neighbours.

"Together, let us open a new chapter of stability and peace."

Mr Macron was joined by a business delegation to discuss regional security as well as business and investment opportunities, Syria's state-run SANA news agency said.

The French president will also "engage directly with diverse Syrian people", his office said.

The full details of Mr Macon's trip have not been disclosed due to security concerns.

Mr Macron's office added that France supports all those who can "contribute to build a new Syria" in line with the aspirations expressed since the 2011 Arab Spring, referring to a period of widespread uprisings across the Middle East.

Paris has supported Syria's new leadership, even while others have been sceptical of Mr al Sharaa's Islamist-led rule and former role as the head of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militant group, previously linked to al Qaeda.

Mr al Sharaa met Mr Macron during a visit to France last year, his first to a European country since toppling Assad.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Syria in April but Mr Macron is the first leader from western Europe or North America to do so.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met Mr al Sharaa on a visit to Damascus in January, and the pair met again at a summit in Cyprus in April.

The Syrian president also visited London in March and met Sir Keir Starmer.

The French president's visit comes during a period of relative calm in the Middle East after months of war in Iran and Lebanon.

Though Syria has managed to avoid direct involvement in these conflicts, the country has been battered by more than a decade of war.

However, only last week a bomb blast at a café in central Damascus killed nine people and wounded 20 others, Syria's interior ministry ​said.

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