Macron to Make First Western State Visit to Syria
President Macron will visit Damascus “soon”, Syria’s presidency announced — the first visit by a Western head of state since the fall of the Assad regime — reportedly bringing a delegation of French investors for talks with President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Paris has not yet confirmed the trip. The announcement came a day before Sharaa’s own first appearance at a NATO summit, where he meets President Trump on Wednesday.
That the announcement comes from Damascus rather than Paris is itself the point: the new Syria wants the visit’s legitimising weight on the record before France does, and a Western leader arriving with investors would mark the decisive shift from sanctions-era isolation to reconstruction competition — in which Turkey, the Gulf states and now Europe each want position. The bombing at a Damascus cafe last week, aimed at the heart of the transition’s justice process, shows what the normalisation bet is exposed to. Watch for Paris confirming dates, and which contracts follow the flag.