French President Macron to Visit Syria, Damascus Announces

Syria's presidential media directorate announced Sunday that French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Damascus in the near future. The announcement did not include a specific date.

The Washington Times reported that the trip would mark the first visit by a Western head of state since the ouster of former President Bashar Assad in 2024. Macron is scheduled to attend a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Syrian presidency statement, as reported by Reuters and AP News, did not specify the agenda or participants for the visit. Macron hosted Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Paris in May 2025, where he pledged to press the European Union and the United States to lift sanctions on Syria. Most sanctions have since been removed, according to The Washington Times.

The 14-year conflict in Syria killed nearly half a million people and displaced millions, leaving infrastructure in ruins and requiring hundreds of billions of dollars for reconstruction, The Washington Times reported. The Syrian presidency statement did not address reconstruction funding or bilateral economic cooperation.