Syria’s de facto new leader to meet French and German foreign ministers.

France and Germany’s top diplomats will travel to Syria on Friday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced, and meet with the leader of rebel group HTS.

The trip to Damascus marks the first time in years that the foreign ministers of Europe’s two largest powers pay a visit to Syria, coming a month after a successful Islamist rebel offensive ousted longtime dictator Bashar Assad.

“In Syria, we want to promote a peaceful and demanding transition in the service of the Syrians and of regional stability,” Barrot wrote in a post on X.

His German counterpart, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, wrote in a post that their visit “on behalf of the EU” is to help Syria make a new start in an inclusive, peaceful transition of power, as well as reconstruction of the war-ravaged country. “We are all aware that this will be a rocky road,” Baerbock said.

The two ministers will meet with the country’s de facto leader, Ahmed Hussein al-Shar’a (also known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani), who heads the main rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. Although the United States and United Kingdom list the group as a terrorist organization, Western powers are likely to cooperate with it to stabilize Syria and stem the flow of Syrian migrants.

Barrot and Baerbock also intend to visit the notorious Sednaya prison north of Damascus.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 30,000 detainees were killed in the Sednaya prison by Assad’s regime since the Syrian civil war started in 2011.

European leaders welcomed Assad’s dramatic fall in early December as a “positive development” for Syria, vowing to work with the new leadership.