Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa headed to Paris on May 7 in his first trip to Europe since his predecessor, Bashar al-Assad, was ousted in a rebel offensive late last year.
In Paris, al-Sharaa will meet French President Emmanuel Macron, with whom he is expected to discuss a range of issues pertaining to strife-torn Syria.
Issues on the agenda will likely include means of ensuring the country’s security and sovereignty and ensuring the safety of Syrian minority groups that have recently come under threat.
Macron and al-Sharaa are also expected to discuss joint efforts against the ISIS terrorist group, along with sought-after Western aid and support for Syria’s post-Assad regime.
In December 2024, Assad was toppled by a Turkey-backed rebel offensive led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, an offshoot of the al-Qaeda terrorist group.
An internationally designated terrorist group, HTS now leads Syria’s interim government, and the group’s leader, al-Sharaa, currently serves as the country’s interim leader.
Because of his previous ties with al-Qaeda, al-Sharaa remains on a terrorism sanctions list, but he was granted an exemption by the United Nations in order to visit the French capital.
Al-Sharaa’s visit to Paris could provide a diplomatic boost for his HTS-led interim government, which has yet to be formally recognized by the White House.
Washington has also thus far refrained from lifting U.S. sanctions on Damascus, which were initially imposed when Syria was ruled by Assad.
Shortly before al-Sharaa’s arrival, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Paris would judge the Syrian leader and his nascent government on their actions.
Barrot said that France expected Damascus to both ensure the safety of Syrian minority groups and assist in the ongoing fight against ISIS.
Sanctions Relief, Possible US Withdrawal
Paris welcomed Assad’s ouster and has since made efforts to foster diplomatic ties with al-Sharaa’s interim government.Last month, Paris appointed a charge d’affaires in Damascus and a small team of diplomats as the first step toward reopening its embassy in the Syrian capital.
Along with other Western capitals, Paris cut ties with Damascus in 2012 amid mounting violence between the Assad government and rebel groups, several of which enjoyed foreign backing.
In the years that followed, Syria was rocked by internal conflict and foreign intervention, during which time Washington, Brussels, and London imposed harsh sanctions on Damascus.
Since the collapse of Assad’s army and regime six months ago, the European Union has lifted some of its sanctions on Syria, and others are due to expire on June 1.
The World Bank has estimated the cost of rebuilding the country at more than $250 billion, leaving the new Syrian regime in dire need of sanctions relief.
Post-Assad Syria remains beset by a host of challenges, including territorial encroachments by neighboring Israel and repeated Israeli airstrikes on the country’s Assad-era military infrastructure.
Meanwhile, hundreds of U.S. troops remain stationed in the country’s northeast, where they work alongside local Kurdish militias as part of an international coalition against ISIS.
Last month, U.S. officials appeared to suggest that the Trump administration was mulling a partial withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria in the months ahead.
“This deliberate and conditions-based process will bring the U.S. footprint in Syria down to less than a thousand U.S. forces in the coming months,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement on April 18.
