President Emmanuel Macron landed in Damascus on 6 July 2025, becoming the first head of state from a European Union country to visit Syria since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. The French leader, accompanied by the chief executives of TotalEnergies and shipping giant CMA CGM, was received by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and later toured the Umayyad Mosque with transitional President Ahmed al-Sharaa. The visit, kept undisclosed until the aircraft touched down for security reasons, marks the first trip by a French president since Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2009 journey and follows Sharaa’s own visit to Paris in May 2025.

According to the Élysée Palace, Macron came to “reaffirm France’s commitment to the Syrian people” and to support a “sovereign, united in its diversity and at peace with its neighbours” Syria. French officials described the trip as the culmination of a consistent policy of backing the Syrian opposition and now the transitional authorities, while insisting that engagement is conditional on building a pluralistic state that protects all communities. Syrian state news agency SANA called the visit “historic” and a “pivotal step in restoring Syria’s international presence,” while Sharaa, in an interview with BFMTV, credited France with a “constructive role” in lifting international sanctions and said the two sides would sign several economic agreements.

Viewed from regional capitals, the visit crystallises a broader geopolitical realignment. Sharaa, a former al-Qaeda commander who has since broken with the group, has secured diplomatic recognition from Western and Middle Eastern powers that had shunned Assad. European and American officials, according to diplomatic sources cited in French and Arab media, see the new authorities as the only viable partner for stabilising a country shattered by 13 years of civil war, even as they press for minority protections after sectarian violence last year. Analysts in Beirut and Paris note that Macron’s trip also carries a message to Ankara and Washington: France intends to be a central player in shaping Syria’s reconstruction and in managing the linked files of Lebanese border control, the fight against Islamic State remnants, and the fate of French jihadists held in Syria.

The visit’s economic dimension is underscored by the presence of top French business leaders, with discussions expected to cover infrastructure, energy, and financial-sector restructuring. On the security track, Macron is expected to raise the need for continued counterterrorism cooperation and restraint regarding any Syrian intervention in Lebanon, a point the Élysée says Sharaa has already dismissed. The French president will hold formal talks with Sharaa on Tuesday before travelling to Ankara for a NATO summit, where US President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet the Syrian leader on the sidelines. The dossier now moves to the implementation of the expected memoranda of understanding and to the summit diplomacy that will test whether the new Syria can convert high-level visits into sustained international reintegration.