Damascus (Syria), July 6 (LaPresse) – French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Syria today. He is the first major Western leader to visit the war-ravaged country since the ousting of Bashar al-Assad in 2024. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the country in April, but Macron is the first leader from Western Europe or North America to do so. The Syrian state news agency Sana reported that Macron is visiting with a delegation of business leaders to discuss regional security and trade and investment opportunities. The French president was welcomed at Damascus airport by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani. Macron had hosted al-Sharaa in Paris in May 2025, where he urged European and U.S. leaders to lift the long-standing sanctions against Damascus. Most of those sanctions were subsequently lifted.
Syria, Macron in Damascus: first visit by a Western leader since Assad’s fall
Damascus (Syria), July 6 (LaPresse) – French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Syria today. He is the first major Western leader to visit the war-ravaged country since the ousting of Bashar al-Assad in 2024. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the country in April, but Macron is the first leader from Western Europe or North America to do so. The Syrian state news agency Sana reported that Macron is visiting with a delegation of business leaders to discuss regional security and trade and investment opportunities. The French president was welcomed at Damascus airport by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani. Macron had hosted al-Sharaa in Paris in May 2025, where he urged European and U.S. leaders to lift the long-standing sanctions against Damascus. Most of those sanctions were subsequently lifted.
