Italian Foreign Minister visits Damascus

The Italian Foreign Minister started a visit to Damascus on Friday, where foreign delegations have been arriving one after another since the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a month ago to meet the new authorities. Antonio Tajani had stated earlier this week that during his trip to Syria, he would announce a "first package of aid for development cooperation" for Syria, which emerged exhausted from more than ten years of conflict.

In the Syrian capital, the Italian minister visited the famous Umayyad Mosque, calling it "a fascinating place of history (...) and one of the most beautiful mosques in the world." He then visited the nearby souk before heading to the presidential palace to meet the new Syrian leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, and his counterpart Assaad al-Chaibani.

Sharaa leads the radical Islamist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which heads the coalition that overthrew Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8, ending five decades of unchallenged rule by his family.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had expressed readiness in mid-December to engage in dialogue with the new authorities while calling for "maximum caution" regarding HTS. HTS — once affiliated with al-Qaeda — claims to have renounced jihadism, and the new power seeks to reassure the international community by ensuring it will respect minority rights in a multi-confessional and multi-ethnic Syria.

During a meeting on Thursday in Rome with his American, British, French, and German counterparts, Tajani declared that Western powers were seeking a "stable and united Syria." Last week, French and German Foreign Ministers Jean-Noël Barrot and Annalena Baerbock visited Damascus, where they met Sharaa to advocate for an inclusive political transition.