German, French foreign ministers meet Syria's new leaders

Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Friday, Europe will support Syria's transitional government in Damascus if the political talks include all ethnic and religious groups in the country.

"A political new beginning between Europe and Syria, between Germany and Syria, is possible," Baerbock said.

Baerbock and France's Jean-Noel Barrot met Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa in Damascus.

The two top diplomats are the first EU ministers to visit Syria since the toppling of President Bashar Assad in December.

Lifting Syria sanctions will depend on political process

After talks with Al-Sharaa and other officials, Baerbock said lifting EU sanctions will depend on the political process going forward.

She and Barrot traveled to Damascus "to discuss whether such an inclusive political process is possible and whether human rights can truly be guaranteed. The entire question of lifting sanctions is tied to this," Baerbock said.

"Europe will support" Syria in its transition "but Europe will not finance new Islamist structures," Baerbock told reporters at the end of her visit.

Al-Sharaa greeted Baerbock and Barrot at the palace entrance, avoiding a handshake with Baerbock but briefly shaking hands with Barrot.

Baerbock has said that the new Syrian government's relations with Germany and the EU are conditional on women and men of all ethnic and religious beliefs playing a role in Syria's new political system and that they are protected.

Barrot posted on social media platform X: "Together, France and Germany stand alongside the Syrian people, in all their diversity." 

After arriving in Damascus, Barrot expressed hope for a "sovereign, stable and peaceful" Syria.

It was also a "hope that the aspirations of all Syrians can be realized," he added, "but it is a fragile hope."

Baerbock and Barrot visit notorious Saydnaya prison 

One of the first stops on the trip was the notorious Saydnaya prison, dubbed "the human slaughterhouse" by Amnesty International.

Barrot and Baerbock were accompanied by White Helmet rescuers as they toured the cells of the facility.

Volunteers founded the White Helmets in 2013 after the start of the civil war. They helped rescue victims after airstrikes, but were also deployed after Syria and Turkey's devastating earthquakes in 2023.

Humanitarian groups say Syrian authorities under the Assad regime, systematically tortured and executed thousands of civilians. 

"You simply can't imagine the horror of some places," Baerbock said. "But people have gone through hell here near the Syrian capital Damascus. They were killed using methods that are unimaginable in a civilized world."

Syria civil society welcoming but expectant

Baerbock also met with representatives from Syria's civil society during her visit, according to Der Spiegel journalist Christoph Schult, who has been traveling with her. 

Speaking to DW on Friday, Christoph Schult said that the representatives made it clear that while they "welcome the new development," they "also fear that the moderate approach that has been taken so far could probably change into a more extremist one, exclusive one targeting minorities, not including minorities."

The German top diplomat spoke to a Christian priest, Schult said, who told Baerbock that while he welcomes the developments, he acknowledged that under the Assad regime "the Christians were more or less safe."

"They are not sure how that will develop under the new rulers," Schult said, citing the priest.

French Foreign Minister Barrot also met with members of Syria's civil society, the French AFP news agency reported.

"A political solution must be reached with France's allies, the Kurds, so that they are fully integrated into this political process that is beginning today," Barrot was quoted as saying in the meeting.

The French top diplomat also called on Syria's new rulers to swiftly inspect and destroy chemical weapons stockpiles belonging to the former authorities.

Dealing with Syria's new leaders

The visit to Syria comes four weeks after rebel groups in Syria, led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), swiftly gained control over the country, with former President Bashar Assad fleeing to Russia. HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa is now considered the head of Syria's transitional government. 

In the days following Assad's ousting, Western governments had been weighing up how best to engage with Syria's new leadership considering that HTS is under EU sanctions and also a designated terrorist group.

"We know where HTS comes from ideologically, what it has done in the past. But we also hear and see the desire for moderation and for understanding with other important actors," Baerbock said in a statement.

Nearly 1 million Syrians in Germany

According to the German Federal Statistical Office, around 973,000 Syrians were living in Germany at the end of 2023. Some 712,000 of them have been granted refugee status.

Most came in 2015, when then-Chancellor Angela Merkel's government decided to allow refugees fleeing Syria's civil war into the country.

One day after the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) issued an immediate freeze on asylum applications from Syrian citizens.

kb/wd (AFP, dpa)