Why has France made a comeback in Syria?
On January 3, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot visited the Syrian capital of Damascus. Accompanied by his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, he met Syria's new leader, Ahmed al-Charaa.
The handshake between Jean-Noël Barrot and Ahmed al-Charaa was observed with great attention. It was the first time since the fall of the Assad regime that two Western powers had travelled to meet the new Syrian leader, head of the radical Islamist group HTS.
After a 13-year absence, France is making a comeback in Syria, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs visited the abandoned embassy. Its reopening and the resumption of diplomatic relations will depend on several conditions, depending on the direction that the Islamist leaders give their country. The aim of the meeting was precisely to assess and better define their direction. As France info points out, among other things, the West wants to see the disappearance of prisons such as Saidnaya, the symbol of Bashar al-Assad's repressive's terror regime.
The West will judge the leaders in Damascus on both their actions and their intentions.
(MH with Manon Pierre - Source : France info - Illustration : Unsplash)