France’s Macron in Syria on first post-Assad visit by a Western leader

French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Damascus on Monday for the first visit by a Western European head of state since Syria’s new authorities took power.President Ahmed al-Sharaa has been rebooting Syria’s international credentials and seeking to revive his struggling country after toppling long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.“I have come to reaffirm France’s commitment to the Syrian people. To a sovereign Syria, united in its diversity and at peace with its neighbours,” Macron, who will leave on Tuesday, wrote on social media.Macron and Sharaa visited Damascus’s famous Umayyad Mosque, France-presse" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="1517" data-entity-type="organization">Agence France-Presse journalists reported, after a working dinner and ahead of official meetings on Tuesday.The last French president to visit the country was Nicolas Sarkozy in 2009, before Assad brutally crushed pro-democracy protests in 2011, sparking a conflict that killed more than half a million people and devastated Syria’s infrastructure and industry.A deadly bombing at a Damascus cafe last week was the latest security challenge for the new Islamist authorities who are trying to reunify the country after more than 13 years of civil war.