Macron arrives in Syria as first major western leader to visit war-torn country under new leadership

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron arrived Monday in Syria, making him the first major western leader to visit the war-torn country since the ouster of Bashar al-Assad in 2024.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited in April but Macron is the first leader from western Europe or North America to do so.

The French president’s visit comes during a period of relative calm in the Middle East after the monthlong war in Iran and Lebanon. He will travel next to Ankara, Turkey, for the NATO summit, where Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa is also expected to attend and hold a high-profile meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Syria’s state-run SANA news agency said Macron would visit with a business delegation to discuss regional security as well as business and investment opportunities.

The French president was greeted at Damascus airport by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani.

“I have come to express France’s commitment to the Syrian people. For a sovereign Syria, united in its diversity and at peace with its neighbors,” Macron said in a post on X. “Together, let us open a new chapter of stability and peace.”

France supports all those who can “contribute to build a new Syria” in line with the aspirations expressed since the 2011 Arab Spring, Macron’s office said, referring to a period of widespread uprisings across the Middle East that called for political change and reform.

Macron will meet with al-Sharaa at the presidential palace and “engage directly with diverse Syrian people,” his office said.

The details of Macron’s visit were not disclosed due to security reasons.

Macron hosted al-Sharaa in Paris in May 2025, where he urged European and U.S. leaders to lift longstanding sanctions on Damascus. Most of those sanctions had since been lifted.

Paris supported Syria’s new leadership even at a time where others were skeptical of al-Sharaa’s Islamist-led rule and former role as the head of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militant group, previously linked to al-Qaida.

Western governments were especially concerned about the treatment and inclusion of women and minorities, and whether Syria’s new government would transition into a more democratic rule.

Syria has managed to sidestep the region’s recent conflicts, but the country is still battered from 13 years of war that left much of it in ruins, drove millions into poverty, and will cost hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild. While Syria has signed memorandums of understanding with states and large companies for large investment projects, they have not yet come to fruition.

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Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press journalist Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.

Ghaith Alsayed And Kareem Chehayeb, The Associated Press