French, German FMs meet Syria's new de facto leaders | DW News

Germany's foreign minister Annalena Baerbock and her counterpart, France's Jean-Noel Barrot, are the first ministers from the EU to visit Syria and meet with de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa since rebels seized control of Damascus on December 8, 2024. Their visit to Syria is the highest-level western visit since the fall of the Assad regime. They expresseed support for the rebuilding of Syria. But they also made it clear that the EU will not finance Islamism - or tolerate discrimination against women or ethnic and religious groups. DW talks to Christoph Schult in Damascus who is currently traveling with FM Baerbock. He is a journalist at Germany's Spiegel magazine. There's some controversy over the Syrian leader's greeting for his EU visitors. Ahmad al-Sharaa shook hands with the French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot, a man, but not with Gemany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, a woman. 00:00 EU extends cautious olive branch to Syria 02:38 Christoph Schult in Damascus 08:04 Anchal Vora, DW Correspondent in Brussels 08:09 What signal is Syria's new leader sending? 13:02 Giorgio Cafiero, Gulf State Analytics For more news go to: http://www.dw.com/en/ For more news, analysis and background information on the German election 2025 go to our dedicated page: https://www.dw.com/en/german-election... Follow DW on social media: ►Instagram:   / dwnews   ►TikTok:   / dwnews   ►Facebook:   / deutschewellenews   ►Twitter:   / dwnews   Für Videos in deutscher Sprache besuchen Sie:    / dwdeutsch   Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/user/deutsche... #Syria #Damascus #EU