Syria: on a visit to Damascus, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, calls for the destruction of the chemical weapons of the Bashar al-Assad regime

The role that a Syria freed from the authoritarian regime of Bashar al-Assad, since the night of December 7 to 8, 2024, will play internationally will be decisive. Representatives of Arab and Western countries have been rushing to the capital, Damascus, for several weeks, while the isolation imposed on Syria since the violent repression of the popular uprising in 2011 is fading.

The new power, led by Ahmad al-Chareh, has for its part made a clear shift in Syria's policy, both by opening the door to maintaining relations with the main allies of the Assad regime (Russia and Iran). ), than by getting closer to Turkey, Qatar and by outlining openings towards the West. Syria must, more broadly, rebuild its international relationship, while the state led with an iron fist by Bashar al-Assad has been eaten away, year after year, by foreign interference and economic or diplomatic sanctions. .

A visit “under mandate of the European Union”

The European Union (EU) made no mistake: the heads of French and German diplomacy arrived in Damascus on the morning of Friday, January 3. Included in the program is a meeting with Syrian leader Ahmad al-Chareh, a first at this level of responsibility for the EU as well as for the new Syrian authorities, whose first steps are being closely scrutinized in Europe.

Jean-Noël Barrot, French Minister of Foreign Affairs, and his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, highlighted a visit which comes “under mandate of the European Union”. A position confirmed even before their arrival in Damascus by government member Bayrou (and affiliated like the latter to the MoDem), who posted a message on his X account, where he asserts that, “Together, France and Germany stand alongside the Syrian people, in all their diversity”.

Annalena Baerbock, for her part, considered that this trip “is a clear signal to the Syrians”. Either “a new political departure between Europe and Syria, between Germany and Syria is possible” for the German elected official, who adds: “It is with this outstretched hand, but also with clear expectations of the new leaders, that we go to Damascus today. » The expectations of the European Union were thus discussed during their joint meeting with Ahmad al-Chareh, head of a coalition led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTC) group.

Jean-Noël Barrot, for example, called for the destruction of chemical weapons stocks built up by the regime of Bashar al-Assad. “A sovereign and secure Syria leaves no room for the proliferation and dissemination of weapons of mass destruction and chemical weapons of the criminal regime of Bashar Al-Assad”he declared. The vice-president of MoDem added that he would ask the new authorities to “immediately appeal to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons” in order to “proceed to destroy chemical weapons stockpiles”. Annalena Baerbock, for her part, warned Syria's new leaders that “Europe will provide its support but [qu’]it will not finance new Islamist structures”in reference to the origins of the HTC movement, the former Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda.

The reestablishment of the French presence in Damascus in sight

The first trips, earlier in the morning, of the two ministers, more broadly, gave clear clues about their positions. Jean-Noël Barrot, for example, met, shortly after his arrival, with representatives of the Christian community in Syria. “France is committed to a plural Syria in which everyone’s rights are preserved within the framework of common citizenship”underlined a diplomatic source, to explain this choice of the tenant of the Quai d'Orsay.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs also went to the French embassy, ​​where the tricolor flag has flown since December 17, the date on which French emissaries went to the new authorities in Damascus. “In the coming weeks, depending on the evolution of security conditions, we will gradually prepare the arrangements for reestablishing the French presence here in Damascus”he announced. Germany, whose embassy has also been closed since 2012, also sent emissaries on December 17.

Annalena Baerbock and Jean-Noël Barrot then went to Saidnaya prison, a bloody symbol of Bashar al-Assad's repressive policy. The penitentiary establishment has been the scene of numerous abuses, as highlighted in an Amnesty International report published in 2017 and entitled “Human slaughterhouse: mass hangings and extermination at Saidnaya prison”. Since the start of the uprising in 2011, more than 100,000 people have died in the immense Syrian prison complex, notably through torture, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) estimated in 2022.

This meeting is also an opportunity for Ahmad al-Chareh to demand a lifting of the international sanctions imposed on the power of Bashar al-Assad – guilty of more than half a million deaths and having caused the flight of millions of inhabitants since more than a decade. His group, HTC, which repeats having broken with jihadism, also wants its classification as “terrorist” by several Western states, notably the United States, to be withdrawn.

Faced with the challenge of unifying the country, Ahmad al-Chareh thus committed to dissolving the armed factions, notably the HTC group, and announced his intention to convene a national dialogue, without specifying the date or who would be invited. Enough to engage in a process which should allow the organization of elections in Syria within the next four years. France is finally due to host an international meeting on Syria in January, several weeks after a similar meeting took place in December, with the presence of US, European, Arab and Turkish ministers and officials.