Damascus (dpa) – Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and her French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot have been received by Syria’s de facto ruler Ahmed al Sharaa. The foreign ministers, who had travelled to Syria on behalf of the EU, were welcomed in the capital Damascus by the leader of the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) at the former palace of long-term ruler Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted around four weeks ago.
Baerbock said after the talks that her first impression was of a divided society. On the one hand, she said there was the hope for freedom for everyone after years of civil war, torture and suppression. On the other, there was the concern that this hope might not be fulfilled for women or for religious and ethnic minorities. Baerbock said that this had been addressed very clearly and that the other side had signalled that this had been understood.
Al-Sharaa was formerly known by his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammed al Jolani. The HTS group emerged from the Al-Nusra Front, a branch of the terrorist network Al-Qaeda. Al-Sharaa had dissociated himself from Al-Qaeda and the terrorist organisation Islamic State (IS). However, there are reports to this day that the HTS leadership maintains contact with Al-Qaeda.
Baerbock had already declared at the beginning of her visit to Syria that she would continue to judge HTS by their actions, but that Germany couldn’t now pass up the opportunity to support the people of Syria at this important crossroads.
