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French, German FMs visit Syria for the first time after Assad’s fall.
Annalena Baerbock and Jean-Noel Barrot visit Syria’s Sednaya prison, an emblem of abuses under deposed leader Bashar al Assad.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock her French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot arrived in Damascus on Friday for talks with the new Syrian government, marking the first trip by European foreign ministers to Syria since the fall of Bashar al Assad regime.
The visit is also the first by European ministers following the severing of diplomatic ties between the EU and Syria nearly 12 years ago.
Both top diplomats visited Syria’s Sednaya prison, an emblem of abuses under deposed regime leader Bashar al Assad.
Speaking on behalf of the European Union (EU), the two will meet with Ahmed al Sharaa, the leader of Syria’s new administration, and representatives of Syrian civil society, according to a statement from Germany’s Foreign Ministry.
“After the fall of the brutal Assad regime, Syria is on the way to a new beginning that the people have longed for. With their trip to Damascus, Foreign Minister Baerbock and her French counterpart Barrot are making it clear on behalf of the EU: We are ready to support Syria in its political restart and peaceful transfer of power, reconstruction and, last but not least, in a social reconciliation process,” the statement said.
Speaking ahead of her trip, Baerbock said that the Assad chapter in Syria “is over.”
“A new chapter has begun, but it has not yet been written. Because at this moment the Syrians have the chance to take the fate of their state into their own hands again. And also to close the deep, open wounds again,” she said.
“We want to support them in this: in an inclusive, peaceful transfer of power, in the reconciliation of society, in reconstruction, in addition to the humanitarian aid that we have provided to the people of Syria without ceasing over the years. We all know that this will be a rocky road,” she said.
Separately Barrot, in a post on social media platform X, said: “Together, France and Germany stand alongside the Syrian people, in all their diversity.”
He added that the two European powers wanted to promote a “peaceful transition”.
In Damascus, he expressed hope for a “sovereign, stable and peaceful” Syria.