Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and France’s Jean-Noel Barrot met with Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Shara in Damascus, Syria, on Friday.
The two top diplomats are the first EU ministers to visit Syria since the ouster of President Bashar Assad in December.
According to a ministry statement, Baerbock said, “My visit today – together with my French counterpart and on behalf of the EU – is a clear signal to the Syrian people: a new political relationship between Europe and Syria, between Germany and Syria.” A beginning is possible.” Statement issued before departure for Damascus.
Syria’s ‘new chapter has begun’ – Baerbock
“The painful chapter of Assad’s regime is over,” Baerbock said in a post. “A new chapter has begun, but has not yet been written. Because this time, the Syrian people once again have the fate of their state in their hands.” There is a chance to take it in hand.” social media platform
Baerbock has said that the new Syrian government’s relations with Germany and the EU are conditional on women and men of all ethnic and religious faiths playing a role in Syria’s new political system and that they are protected.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot posted on the social media platform X: “Together, France and Germany stand with the Syrian people in all their diversity.”
After arriving in Damascus, Barot expressed hope for a “sovereign, stable and peaceful” Syria.
It is also a “hope that the aspirations of all Syrians can be realized,” he added, “but it is a fragile hope.”
Baerbock and Barrot visit the infamous Saidnaya prison
One of the first stops on the tour was the notorious Saydnaya prison, dubbed a “human slaughterhouse” by Amnesty International.
Barrot and Baerbock were accompanied by White Helmets rescuers when they toured the cells of the facility.
Volunteers founded the White Helmets in 2013 after the start of the civil war. They helped rescue victims after air strikes, but were also deployed after a devastating earthquake in Syria and Turkey in 2023.
Humanitarian groups say Syrian authorities under the Assad regime systematically tortured and killed thousands of civilians.
“You can’t imagine the horror of some of the places,” Baerbock said. “But here near the Syrian capital, Damascus, people have gone through hell. They were killed using methods that are unimaginable in the civilized world.”
Dealing with Syria’s new leaders
The visit to Syria comes four weeks after rebel groups in Syria, led by Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), quickly seized control of the country and former President Bashar Assad fled to Russia. HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa is now considered the head of Syria’s transitional government.
In the days following Assad’s ouster, Western governments were considering how to engage with Syria’s new leadership due to HTS being under EU sanctions and a designated terrorist group.
“We know where HTS comes from ideologically, what it has done in the past. But we also hear and see a desire for restraint and understanding with other important actors,” Baerbock said in a statement.
Nearly 1 million Syrians in Germany
According to the German Federal Statistics Office, approximately 973,000 Syrians were living in Germany at the end of 2023. About 712,000 of them have been granted refugee status.
The highest came in 2015, when the government of then-Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to allow refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war into the country.
A day after the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) imposed an immediate freeze on asylum applications from Syrian citizens.
kb/wd (AFP, dpa)
