DAMASCUs, Jan 3 : German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and her French counterpart, Jean-Noel Barrot, arrived in Damascus on Friday for the first official visit since the ouster of President Bashar Assad.
“It is clear to us that the road will be rocky. My today’s trip alongside my French colleague, Jean-Noel Barrot, on behalf of the EU is a clear signal: a political fresh-start between Europe and Syria, between Germany and Syria is possible,” Baerbock tweeted.
Baerbock said she came to the Syrian capital with an offer of support and clear expectations for the new Syrian government. She stressed that a fresh start would only be possible if an inclusive political process was guaranteed.
“We want to support them in this: in an inclusive, peaceful transition of power, in the reconciliation of society, in the reconstruction, in addition to the humanitarian aid that we have continuously provided to the Syrian people over the past years,” she wrote.
Barrot said on X that France and Germany stood by the Syrian people.
“In Syria, we want to promote a peaceful and demanding transition in the service of the Syrians and for the sake of regional stability,” he said.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and high-ranking delegations from the United States, Italy, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iraq met with the new Syrian government in Damascus in December. Syria’s foreign and defense ministers, in turn, made their first official foreign visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
Syria’s armed opposition captured Damascus on December 8. Russian officials said that Syrian President Bashar Assad stepped down after negotiations with participants in the Syrian conflict and left Syria for Russia, where he was granted asylum. Mohammed al-Bashir, who ran an Idlib-based administration formed by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and other opposition groups, was named interim prime minister. He later announced that an interim government had been formed and would remain in place until March 2025.
(UNI)
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