By receiving Syrian temporary worker Ahmad Al-Chareh At the Élysée, Emmanuel Macron asked him on Wednesday to “do everything to ensure the protection of all Syrians without exception, whatever their origin, their religion, their confession, their opinions”.
It was there first visit in Europe of the leader of the Syrian transition since its takeover on December 8, 2024, after having overturned Bashar al-Assad with his group Hayat Tahrir al-cham (HTC). He was welcomed at the Élysée with the honors of the Republican Guard.
Live | Press conference of President Emmanuel Macron and Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Charaa. https://t.co/kDajXXLmca
– Élysée (@elysee) May 7, 2025
By his side during a press conference, Emmanuel Macron also told him that he should “ensure that the authors” of recent interconfessional violence aimed at Druze and “Massacres” of members of the Alaouite minority In March were “prosecuted and judged”. He hopes that the European Union “systematically sanctions the perpetrators of these crimes”
But if the Islamist coalition in power in Syria since the fall of clan Assad Stabilizes his country, the French president pleads for a continuation of “the gradual lifting of European economic sanctions”. Syrians’ safety is “the first priority,” said Ahmad al-Chareh while calling for the lifting of sanctions. “Nothing justifies that they are maintained because they are today imposed on the people and not on The one who massacred this people “, He argued.
Emmanuel Macron also called for theadministration Trump. “The interest of all, including the interest of the Americans, is today (…) rather to act to accompany us in the lifting of the sanctions with regard to the Syrian people”, and “to delay as much as possible for the withdrawal of these forces in Syria,” said the French president.
The Syrian leader confirms “indirect discussions” with Israel
The French president has also moved from Israeli strikes on Syria : “With regard to bombings, incursions, I think it is a bad practice. We do not provide the security of his country by violating the territorial integrity of his neighbors. “The Syrian interim president confirmed” indirect discussions “with Israel” through mediators (…) to contain the current situation “.
Since the fall of Assad in December, Israel, who considers the new authorities with distrust, has led hundreds of attacks against military sites in Syria, saying that he wants to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of the new authorities which he describes as “jihadists”.
“It’s the life of animals, and it will continue”
Emmanuel Macron denounced the “postures for political purposes” of the right and far right French, Intended to “speak to electorates”, after strong criticism around the arrival in France of the Syrian transition president Ahmad al-Chareh because of his jihadist past.
“Shame”, notably posted on X the president of the RN Jordan Bardella.
“This is the life of the animals, and it will continue,” quipped the French president at a press conference at the Élysée with the Syrian leader. “What I see is that there is a leader who is in place. He ended a regime that we condemned, fought, whose responsibility we know and he is ready to commit. The first acts led to results, “he added, saying that Hmad al-Chareh was” lucid “.
Before going to the Élysée Palace, the Syrian leader met the man who had been the source of thousands of photos of tortured bodies in Syrian detention centers during the reign of Bashar al-Assad. Today installed in France, Farid al-mazhan, alias césar, had testified before a commission of the American Congress, and its photos inspired an American law adopted in 2020 -the César law, establishing economic sanctions against the Syrian regime.
