THE APEX TIMES
Syrian state media says French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Damascus in the coming days, a move described as the first trip by a Western leader since Bashar Assad was removed in 2024.
French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to visit Syria soon, Syrian state media said Sunday, describing the trip as the first by a Western leader since the 2024 ouster of former President Bashar Assad. Damascus said the visit will take place as Syria seeks to normalize contacts with European governments after years of civil war, while Paris has not publicly detailed the schedule.
Damascus-based reports said the announcement came from President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s office, cited by Syria’s state-run SANA news agency. SANA did not give a specific date for Macron’s arrival. The French presidential palace did not comment on the trip, according to reporting that cited the Syrian announcement.
The timing appears linked to Macron’s travel plans for the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. Reporting associated with the Damascus announcement said Macron will attend the summit on Tuesday and Wednesday, and that he will also travel to Syria afterward. Syria’s state media said Macron will be accompanied by investors and representatives from French companies, framing the visit as part of a broader effort to engage Western business.
The announcement follows Macron’s previous meeting with al-Sharaa. Reporting cited by multiple outlets said Macron hosted al-Sharaa in Paris in May 2025, when he pledged to press the European Union and the United States to lift sanctions on Syria. The reporting added that most sanctions have already been removed, leaving additional measures and compliance questions as a central focus of diplomacy.
International engagement with Syria has been shaped by the long-term consequences of the conflict and the scale of reconstruction needs. The Associated Press reporting referenced in the research context said Syria’s 14-year war has killed nearly half a million people and displaced millions, leaving major infrastructure in ruins. Rebuilding and economic stabilization are widely viewed as requiring hundreds of billions of dollars, according to that reporting, alongside efforts to reduce poverty and restore basic services.
The Macron trip would also mark a sensitive shift in Western diplomacy after Assad’s departure, with Syria now led by al-Sharaa’s government. For France and its European partners, any engagement carries practical implications for trade, corporate investment and compliance regimes, as well as for public safety and the monitoring of security conditions inside Syria.
As of Sunday, concrete details of the agenda and the extent of any signed understandings were not publicly described by French officials. The next step, according to the reporting context, is confirmation of the visit date and the meetings that Macron will hold in Damascus following the NATO summit.
Syria’s announcement sets up a further test of how quickly Western leaders will formalize engagement with the post-Assad government, and what legal, economic and security benchmarks Damascus must meet for continued sanctions relief and investment. The visit is expected to be a focal point for discussions that could include sanctions implementation, trade pathways, and the governance of reconstruction efforts.
