Germany’s Annalena Baerbock offers an ‘outstretched hand’ but underlines the EU’s ‘expectations’ of diversity and tolerance.
French and German foreign ministers have arrived in Damascus to meet Syria’s new rulers, marking the first trip by top European Union officials to the country since the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad last month. .
Germany’s Annalena Baerbock and France’s Jean-Noel Barrot will hold talks with Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, also referred to as Abu Mohammed al-Julani, in the Syrian capital on Friday.
Their visit comes as Western governments open channels with al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group with former links to al-Qaeda that led the rebellion against al-Assad, debating whether to drop the designation his terrorist.
Barrot first landed in the Syrian capital on Friday morning after posting on social media platform X that France and Germany stood by the Syrian people “in all their diversity”, expressing support for a “peaceful and demanding transition to service of Syrians and Syrians and seekers”. for regional stability”.
Ahead of the one-day trip, Baerbock spoke of a “new political beginning” between the EU and Syria, signaling that she would arrive with “an outstretched hand” as well as “clear expectations” of the new rulers, who she said they would be judged by their actions.
“We know where HTS is coming from ideologically, what it has done in the past,” the foreign minister said in a statement. “But we also hear and see the desire for moderation and understanding with other important actors.”
“A new beginning can only happen if the new Syrian society gives a place in the political process to all Syrians, women and men, of any ethnic or religious group, and provides rights and protection,” she said.
Baerbock specifically asked the new government to avoid “acts of revenge against groups within the population”, to avoid a long delay before elections, and to avoid attempts to introduce religious content into the judicial and educational systems.
The new authorities have already announced curriculum changes, including removing poems about women and love and references to “gods” in ancient history courses.
As for governance, al-Sharaa recently stated that it could take about three years to present a new draft constitution and another year until elections.
Baerbock said Germany wanted to overcome “skepticism” about HTS and help Syria return to “a functioning state with full control over its territory”.
The two ministers will also visit Sednaya prison, the site of extrajudicial executions, torture and enforced disappearances that epitomized the brutality of the al-Assad family’s decades-long rule.
France and Germany had already sent lower-level delegations last month.
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes hit areas south of Aleppo on Thursday, in the latest strikes in Syria since the fall of al-Assad.
Syrian state television said the strikes hit defense and research facilities in the town of Safira.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Israel has carried out strikes in Syria since al-Assad fled the country on December 8, saying the aim is to prevent weapons from falling into hostile hands.
