The Syria Factual collective counts 32 French elected officials who traveled to Syria between 2014 and 2021. During ten trips, these parliamentarians, mainly from the Les Républicains party, were able to meet the Syrian dictator.
The fall of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, now a refugee in Russia, has led to questions in France about the complacency and even support of certain French parties or politicians towards the former tyrant. Several press articles have notably highlighted the favorable positions of the National Rally but also of La France insoumise with regard to the Syrian regime, now ousted from power.
However, elected officials from center-left and center-right parties have also worked to normalize the regime of Bashar al-Assad, often calling for the restoration of diplomatic relations, broken by France in March 2012, and an end to economic sanctions. which affected Syria.
The Syria Factual association, which presents itself as a “French-speaking citizen collective against disinformation about Syria” carried out sourced work, compiling the visits of French elected officials to Syria, the Syrian personalities met and the framework of these trips. Initially published in April 2020 and updated in October 2021, it lists the visits of 32 French elected officials to the Middle Eastern country.
A majority of elected LR
According to information collected by Syria Factual, 32 elected officials have participated in at least one of the 18 trips by French delegations to Syria since 2014. These are personalities who have held positions as deputies (20), senators (4), MEPs (3 according to Syria Factual, 4 after verification of CheckNews), regional councilors or mayor. During ten of these trips, French elected officials met directly with Bashar al-Assad.
The vast majority come from LR: according to the Syria Factual count, 21 of these personalities who traveled to Syria were members of or affiliated with the right-wing party. They are Véronique Besse, Valérie Boyer, Sandra Böelle, Xavier Breton, Guillaume Chevrollier, Nicolas Dhuicq, Bernard Fournier, Yves Fromion, Denis Jacquat, Patrick Karam, Thierry Mariani, Yannick Moreau, Jacques Myard, Aurélie Pirillo, Jean-Frédéric Poisson, Didier Quentin, Raphaël Schellenberger, Jean-Marie Tétart, Jean-Pierre Vial, Michel Voisin and François Zocchetto. Among them, fifteen are members or close to the study group on Eastern Christians of the National Assembly, and two participated in the France-Syria friendship group of the National Assembly. Often, their visits are justified by their concerns regarding the Christian populations of Syria. During the last recorded trip, at the end of September 2021, former LR deputy Didier Quentin called for “the lifting of sanctions and the end of the embargo”, indicated the Cross.
Seven of these political figures passed through or were close to the National Rally: Thierry Mariani, Andréa Kotarac, Nicolas Bay, Gonzague Malherbe, Virginie Joron, Hervé Juvin and Robert Ménard.
Four were members or close to the Socialist Party: Gérard Bapt (member of the study group on Eastern Christians of the National Assembly and then president of the France-Syria friendship group), Bernard Cazeau, Christian Hutin and Jérôme Lambert. Gérard Bapt's participation in these trips earned him reprimands in 2015 from his party, the socialist government and the President of the Republic François Hollande.
One visitor was affiliated with Modem: Jean Lassalle (member of the study group on Eastern Christians), who met Bashar al-Assad in January 2017.
The count also includes a politician who worked for La France insoumise: Andréa Kotarac. This former LFI regional advisor went with Thierry Mariani to Damascus in December 2018, among others. A few months later, in May 2019, he joined the RN. The coordinator of LFI, Manuel Bompard ensures with CheckNews that the leadership of the movement was not informed of such a move.
“Tour operators in Syria”
Among these visitors to Bashar al-Assad's Syria, the one who went there the most is Thierry Mariani (LR now RN) with a total of seven trips, followed by the socialist Gérard Bapt and his six trips (including twice when he was no longer an MP). Both are qualified as “tour operators in Syria” by Syria Factual, since they initiated several of these visits for French elected officials. They are followed by Andréa Kotarac, the former LFI who became advisor to Marine Le Pen, and the former LR MP Nicolas Dhuicq, who each have three trips. Two other elected officials, Jean-Frédéric Poisson (former president of the Christian Democratic Party, once close to the UMP but who has since supported Eric Zemmour) and former LR deputy Michel Voisin took part in two trips. The other names cited in this article participated in a single trip to Syria, according to the collective's data.
He also notes the presence of other political figures, notably during a trip in March 2016, in which Julien Rochedy (former national director of the National Youth Front who left the Lepéniste party in 2014) and Pierre Gentillet, darling lawyer of CNews and RN candidate for the 2024 legislative elections.
The directory of Syria Factual, that CheckNews verified, does not take into account an attempt by deputies Cécile Duflot (EE-LV), Patrick Mennucci (PS) and Hervé Mariton (LR), who were turned back at the Turkish-Syrian border in December 2016, while They hoped to reach the city of Aleppo, besieged by Bashar al-Assad and the Russian army, in order to demand a ceasefire there. Logically, it also does not count the visit, in November 2023, of a French delegation mandated by Emmanuel Macron to northern Syria, where former minister Jean-Michel Blanquer met representatives of the Administration autonomous region of North and East Syria. This visit was condemned by the Bashar al-Assad regime.
