Macron Makes Historic Trip to Syria as First Western Leader Under New Government

DAMASCUS, Syria — French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Syria on Monday, becoming the first major Western leader to visit the country since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in 2024.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Syria in April, but Macron is the first head of state from Western Europe or North America to make such a visit.

The French president’s trip comes amid a period of relative calm in the Middle East following the monthlong conflict involving Iran and Lebanon. He is scheduled to travel next to Ankara, Turkey, for the NATO summit, where Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa is also expected and is due to hold a high-profile meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Syria’s state-run SANA news agency reported that Macron is accompanied by a business delegation and will discuss regional security alongside trade and investment opportunities.

Upon arrival at Damascus airport, Macron was received 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 wrote in a post on X. “Together, let us open a new chapter of stability and peace.”

Macron’s office stated that France supports those working to “contribute to build a new Syria” in line with the aspirations raised since the 2011 Arab Spring, referencing the widespread regional uprisings that demanded political change and reform.

According to the French presidency, Macron will meet al-Sharaa at the presidential palace and “engage directly with diverse Syrian people.”

Specific details of the visit were withheld for security reasons.

Macron received al-Sharaa in Paris in May 2025, where he encouraged European and U.S. leaders to lift long-standing sanctions on Damascus. Most of those measures have since been removed.

Paris backed Syria’s new leadership even as others remained skeptical of al-Sharaa’s Islamist-led administration and his prior role as head of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militant group, formerly linked to al-Qaida.

Western governments voiced particular concern over the treatment and inclusion of women and minorities, as well as whether the new Syrian authorities would move toward democratic governance.

Syria has avoided being drawn into recent regional fighting, yet it remains devastated after 13 years of war that reduced much of the country to ruins, pushed millions into poverty, and will require hundreds of billions of dollars in reconstruction. Although Damascus has signed memorandums of understanding with governments and major firms for large-scale investment, those projects have yet to materialize.

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