The foreign ministers of France and Germany have said they want a new relationship with Syria and a peaceful, inclusive transition during the highest-level western visit to Damascus since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime last month.
Jean-Noël Barrot and Annalena Baerbock, the first EU ministers to travel to the Syrian capital since rebels seized control on 8 December, held talks with the country’s de facto leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, at the People’s Palace on Friday.
The diplomats earlier visited Syria’s notorious Sednaya prison complex and met civil society representatives as western powers cautiously open channels with Syria’s new rulers after 13 years of a devastating civil war that cost more than 500,000 lives.
The trip was intended to show European openness to acknowledging the Islamist rebels, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), while also urging conciliation, moderation, inclusivity and respect for the rights of Syria’s minorities.
“Our message to Syria’s new leadership: respecting the principles agreed with regional actors and ensuring the protection of all civilians and minorities is of the utmost importance,” the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said on Friday.
Baerbock said Syria had “managed something hardly anyone thought was possible” in overthrowing Assad. “It shows how important it is, also in difficult times, to support the people who believe in freedom and justice,” she said. “We want to continue on this path … even though we know it will be a rocky road.”
She said it was “unclear what the future of Syria will look like”.
“There is good reason for people to have new hope, but there is also good reason to be cautious,” she added.
Germany and the EU wanted to help Syria become a “safe home” for all its people and a “functioning state, with full control over its territory”, Baerbock said, adding that despite scepticism about HTS “we must not miss this opportunity”.
Baerbock asked the new rulers to renounce “acts of vengeance”, hold elections soon, and avoid attempting to Islamise the judicial and education systems. The goal was for Syria to become a respected member of the international community again, she said.
Barrot said the two EU heavyweights “stand together alongside the Syrian people in all their diversity” and wanted a “peaceful transition”.
At a meeting with civil society leaders he said he hoped for a “sovereign and safe” Syria, with no room for terrorism or chemical weapons. He told journalists that France and Germany intended to offer technical help and advice on a new constitution.
Hope for the country’s democratic transition was “fragile but real”, Barrot said. Details of the pair’s meeting with Sharaa were not immediately released.
HTS, a Sunni Muslim group previously affiliated with al-Qaida and Islamic State, is still designated a terrorist organisation by numerous national governments but has assured the international community it aims to govern on behalf of all Syrians.
Having led the offensive that toppled the Assad family’s brutal, decades-long rule, the group’s senior figures, who dominate Syria’s interim authorities, face the task of rebuilding the country’s decimated state institutions.
Major questions remain about whether minority rights in Syria’s multi-ethnic society will be properly guaranteed, as well as over continuing malign foreign influence in a country where states including Turkey and Russia have strong competing interests.
Barrot also visited the French embassy, which has been closed since 2012.He met the Syrian staff who maintained the facilities and reaffirmed the need to work towards re-establishing diplomatic representation.
Baerbock said she was travelling to Syria with an “outstretched hand” as well as “clear expectations” of the new rulers, who she said would be judged by their actions.
“We know where the HTS comes from ideologically, what it has done in the past,” she said. “But we also hear and see the desire for moderation and for understanding.”
Western allies were committed to ensuring Syria’s internal affairs were not disrupted by outside influences, she said, and called on Russia to leave its military bases in Syria.
Sednaya prison, not far from the capital, was the site of extrajudicial killings, torture and forced disappearances, epitomising the atrocities committed by the Assad regime against its opponents.
“Now it’s up to the international community to help to bring justice to the people who have suffered here in this prison of hell,” Baerbock said after touring the complex.
