French President Emmanuel Macron is set to visit Syria, the Syrian presidency announced Sunday, without specifying a date. The visit would make him the first Western head of state to travel to Damascus since President Ahmad al-Sharaa came to power in late 2024.
Ahmad al-Sharaa © Mena Today
French President Emmanuel Macron is set to visit Syria, the Syrian presidency announced Sunday, without specifying a date. The visit would make him the first Western head of state to travel to Damascus since President Ahmad al-Sharaa came to power in late 2024.
It would also be the first visit by a French president to Syria since Nicolas Sarkozy's trips in 2008-2009, before the Arab Spring crackdown by Bashar al-Assad's regime in 2011 severed relations between Paris and Damascus. The Emir of Qatar and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have already made the trip since Assad's fall.
The timing is not accidental. With his presidency winding down and his domestic popularity at historic lows, Macron has been compensating with a frenetic international agenda. A visit to a post-Assad Syria makes for a compelling headline and a legacy moment, however thin the substance behind it.
In practical terms, not much. The most tangible benefit would be commercial: French companies could gain a foothold in Syria's reconstruction market.
But here too, Macron arrives late. Turkey, the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have already established a significant presence, signing investment agreements and positioning their companies for the reconstruction bonanza ahead.
France will be competing for scraps at a table where the Gulf states and Ankara have already claimed the best seats.
A historic visit, certainly. A game-changer for France's strategic position in Syria or the broader Middle East? That is a much harder case to make.
The World Bank has announced the appointment of Dahlia Khalifa as Division Director for the Middle East Department, covering Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. She succeeds Jean-Christophe Carret, who served in the role for four years.
A bomb blast at a crowded cafe in central Damascus killed at least five people and wounded 16 others on Thursday, Syrian state media reported.
Syria's foreign minister said during a visit to Beirut on Thursday that Damascus was open to meeting the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah "if interests require it", Lebanon's state news agency reported.
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