French, German FMs meet Syria's de facto leader

France and Germany's top diplomats met Syria's new ruler in Damascus on Friday, in the highest-level visit by major Western powers since the country's new Islamist authorities seized power last month.

AFPTV footage showed French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock sitting down at the presidential palace with leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani.

The foreign ministers visit to Damascus is the first official visit to Syria by top diplomats from European Union countries after the fall of former President Bashar Assad, in what the German minister said is a clear signal that a "new beginning" between Europe and Syria is possible.

Barrot, who began the visit Friday with a meeting with Christian religious leaders in Damascus, said in a statement on the social media platform X that the two countries "want to promote a peaceful and urgent transition in the service of Syrians and for regional stability."

Baerbock said there can be a "political new beginning between Europe and Syria" only if the new Syrian society gives all people, regardless of ethnic or religious group, "a place in the political process" as well as rights and protection.

She said those rights should not be undermined by an overly long transition to elections or by "steps toward the Islamification of the justice or education system," that there should be no acts of revenge against entire groups of the population, and that extremism should have no place.

Since Assad’s ouster in a lightning offensive by opposition forces, Damascus has experienced a flurry of visits from Arab and Western countries that had cut off relations with Assad’s government during the country’s nearly 14-year civil war.

However, Western countries have so far not lifted sanctions placed on Syria under Assad or removed the designation of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham as a terrorist group, although the United States lifted a $10 million bounty it had previously placed on al-Sharaa.