Friday January 3, Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, visited Syria, alongside his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock. The head of French diplomacy was the guest of the Grand Jury RTL-M6-Le Figaro-Public Sénatthis Sunday, January 5, to return to this visit to Damascus, “the first in fifteen years,” he said.
“A few weeks ago, thanks to the extraordinary mobilization of the Syrian people, new hope was born. A fragile hope, but a real hope,” he proclaimed in reference to the fall of Bashar al-Assad. “France stands alongside the Syrian people to make this hope a reality”indicated the Minister of Foreign Affairs who met, in Damascus, representatives of civil society, the communities, “in particular the Christian communities, which we have supported for so long”.
On site, Jean-Noël Barrot and Annalena Baerbock also met the Syrian leader, Ahmad al-Chareh, presented as a radical Islamist. “I am lucid about the past of Ahmad al-Chareh, the groups which led to the overthrow of the torture regime of Bashar al-Assad. I also know that some of these groups fought al-Qaeda and ISIS. In the new Syria which is emerging, there must be no place for Islamist terrorism”, he justified himself.
What are French interests?
During this meeting, the minister ensures that he sent “very clear and very firm messages on expectations in matters of political transitions”, in particular on French interests: “the fight against Daesh terrorism and the fight against the proliferation of chemical weapons”. He is therefore pleased to have “obtained assurances from the transitional authority that it would soon host a mission to organize the ban on chemical weapons”.
The head of French diplomacy wants “a future for Syria which allows all components of society to be represented” as much for the country, as for the region and for France. The French “suffered the consequences of this instability, which caused one of the largest waves of migration towards Europe, which also caused the rise of terrorism which was exploited by the regime of Bashar al-Assad. If we want to prevent all of these threats, we need a sovereign, stable and peaceful Syria“, he proclaimed.
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