Germany Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is in Damascus, Syria on Friday for talks with the country’s new rebel-formed government.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot is also on the visit to Syria.
“The painful chapter of Assad’s rule is over. A new chapter has begun, but not yet written. Because at this moment the Syrians have the chance to take the fate of their state into their own hands again,” Baerbock said in a statement posted on social media platform X.
“A political new beginning between Europe and Syria, between Germany and Syria, is possible,” Germany’s top diplomat said about her visit to Damascus.
It comes after rebel groups in Syria, led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), swiftly gained control over the country, with former President Bashar Assad fleeing to Russia. HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa is now considered the head of Syria’s transitonal government.
Baerbock has said that the new Syrian government’s relations with Germany and the EU is conditional on women and men of all ethnic and religious beliefs playing a role in Syria’s new political system and that they are protected.
In the days following Assad’s ousting, Western governments had been weighing up how best to engage with Syria’s new leadership considering HTS being under EU sanctions and also a designated terrorist group.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated…
kb/wd (AFP, dpa)
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