PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron became the first European Union head of state to speak directly with Syria’s new president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, on Tuesday.
Macron’s office said that he “took the initiative” to call al-Sharaa, who served as the de facto Syrian leader after the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime in December and was appointed interim president last week. The two leaders discussed “the need to continue the fight against terrorism” and Macron expressed his “hope that the process initiated by the interim authorities will fully meet the aspirations of the Syrian people.”
Al-Sharaa had previously met with the French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock, who traveled to Damascus last month. Al-Sharaa raised eyebrows during that trip when he shook hands with Barrot but not Baerbock.
The Syrian state-owned news agency SANA reported that Macron had “congratulated” al-Sharaa and “stressed his country’s commitments to lift sanctions on Syria.” The EU said last week that it would ease some of the sanctions taken against Syria under Assad’s rule to help the country rebuild after more than 13 devastating years of civil war.
SANA also reported that Macron invited al-`Sharaa to Paris for what would be the Syrian leader’s first visit to Europe. The French president will host an international conference on Syria in Paris on Feb. 13. A diplomatic official, granted anonymity for protocol reasons, told POLITICO that the Syrian foreign minister is expected to attend.
Al-Sharaa traveled to Saudi Arabia on Sunday for his first trip abroad and visited Turkey’s capital Ankara on Tuesday, where he met with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Al-Sharaa’s movement Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, was formerly an al Qaeda associate and has been listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the United Kingdom. The transitional government has worked to polish its image since taking power and convince the international community that it will respect the rights of women as well as religious and ethnic minorities. The government appointed a woman to lead the country’s central bank and has reached out to Syria’s Christian, Kurd and Shiite Alawite populations.
Clea Caulcutt contributed to this report.
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