Syria's acting president Ahmed Al-Sharaa met French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday evening at the Élysée, during his first official visit to Europe since his entry into office after the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024.
For Al-Sharaa, the visit also offered an opportunity to present a more moderate image for skeptical European countries.
Speaking at a joint press conference, Macron found a careful balance between business support and expectations.
“The fact remains that Syria takes up the road challenge to civil peace and harmony,” he said.
Macron announced that he supported the sanctions that gradually supported sanctions – put in place against Al -Assad and his regime during the war of the years which ended with his exile in Moscow – subordinate to the commitment of the Syrian interim government to justice and reforms.
He said he would urge the European Union not to renew the sanctions against Syria.
Al-Sharaa qualified the current sanctions “an obstacle” to recovery. “There is no justification to maintain them,” he said, noting that they had been imposed on Al-Assad and that the current government should not bear this burden.
Macron also said that the so-called Islamic State group () remained “the most serious threat” for France.
He called on the United States to “maintain” its military operations against the Islamic State group in Syria and to “raise sanctions” imposed in the country.
Protect all Syrians, whatever their faith, Macron says in Al-Sharaa
The United States has started with hundreds of soldiers from northeast Syria in recent weeks.
While stressing that France will not “give lessons”, Macron insisted that the Syrian chief must protect “all Syrians whatever their faith”.
The French chief referred to the attacks on western Syria in March, during which 1,700 people, mainly Alawites, were killed, as well as recent clashes with the communities of Druze.
The visit aroused significant debate in French political circles. Al-Sharaa is part of the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and remains a controversial figure.
Al-Sharaa is still under a United Nations travel ban, and France had to request an exemption to allow its entry.
Macron's decision to receive him caused a fierce reaction to the right and extreme right of France, who condemn this decision as legitimizing a man with a jihadist past.
ADVERTISEMENTResponding to criticism of the French parties, Macron rejected the idea that diplomacy should be limited to the reception of the allies.
“Have we only received people with whom we were fully agree?” He asked, saying that the interim government had already taken the first concrete measures towards a more democratic future.
