Macron arrives in Syria for talks with al-Sharaa ahead of NATO summit in Turkiye

French President Emmanuel Macron has arrived in Syria for talks with President Ahmed al-Sharaa, in a visit that marks the first by a western European leader since Bashar al-Assad was overthrown in 2024. Macron was greeted at Damascus International Airport on Monday evening by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani. The two leaders are due to travel to Ankara on Tuesday for the NATO summit, where al-Sharaa is expected to hold a high-profile meeting with US President Donald Trump.

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Macron said in a post on X that he had come to express France's commitment to the Syrian people. He said he wanted a sovereign Syria, united in its diversity and at peace with its neighbours, and added that the aim was to open a new chapter of stability and peace. Syrian state media said Macron was travelling with a business delegation, with discussions expected to cover regional security and investment opportunities.

The visit follows Macron's meeting with al-Sharaa in Paris in May 2025, when he urged European leaders and the United States to end longstanding sanctions on Damascus. The trip comes after most of those sanctions were lifted, reflecting a gradual shift in Western engagement with Syria's new leadership. Paris has backed the authorities in Damascus even as some governments remained cautious about al-Sharaa's conservative rule and his past role as head of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham armed group, which was previously linked to al-Qaeda.

Western concerns have also focused on the treatment and inclusion of women and minorities in the new government, as well as whether Syria will move towards more democratic rule. The visit is significant because it places Syria's new leadership back into direct contact with a major European power at a moment when regional diplomacy is moving quickly. It also underlines the importance of the NATO summit in Turkiye, where Syria's president is expected to meet the US president.

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For France, the trip signals continued support for a political opening in Damascus and for efforts to link diplomacy with economic recovery. Syria remains heavily affected by the legacy of 13 years of war, which left much of the country in ruins and pushed millions into poverty. The country has so far avoided being drawn into the region's recent conflicts, but rebuilding is still expected to cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

That makes foreign investment, sanctions relief and security assurances central issues for the new government. What remains unclear is how far this renewed engagement will translate into concrete economic or political commitments. It is also not yet clear what specific agreements, if any, will emerge from the talks in Damascus or the meetings planned in Ankara.

The next developments to watch are the outcome of the NATO summit discussions and whether the visit leads to further European diplomatic engagement with Syria.

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