Macron will arrive in Syria to discuss the NATO meeting in Turkey NATO news

The French president is the first Western European leader to visit Syria since President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown in 2024.

French President Emmanuel Macron has arrived in Syria for talks with President Ahmed al-Sharaa, in the first visit by a leader from Western Europe since Syria’s former dictator, former President Bashar al-Assad, was ousted in 2024.

Macron was received at Damascus International Airport on Monday evening by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani.

The leaders of France and Syria are both planning to travel to Ankara on Tuesday for the NATO summit, where al-Sharaa is expected to have a high-level meeting with US President Donald Trump.

“I have come to express France’s commitment to the Syrian people. For an independent Syria, united in diversity and at peace with its neighbors,” Macron said in post X. “Together, let’s open a new chapter of stability and peace.”

Syria’s SANA news agency said Macron was traveling with a business delegation to discuss regional security and investment opportunities.

Agreement between France and Syria

Macron hosted al-Sharaa in Paris in May 2025, where he urged European and United States leaders to end the long-standing sanctions against Damascus. Most of the sanctions had been lifted.

Paris supported the new Syrian leadership even at a time when some were questioning al-Sharaa’s stable rule and former role as leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militia, which was formerly affiliated with al-Qaeda.

Western governments were particularly concerned about the support and inclusion of women and minorities in the new Syrian government, and whether the country would transition to a democratic regime.

Syria has managed to avoid being caught up in recent regional conflicts, but the country is still battered by 13 years of war that left much in ruins and impoverished millions. It will cost hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild.