Paris to deliver firm messages to Syrian president

Today's controversial visit of the Syrian president to France, his first in the West, offers an opportunity to address accountability for atrocities and continue the fight against terrorism, the French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Wednesday on the TF1 French television channel.

French President Emmanuel Macron is sharply criticized by the French right and far right for inviting Ahmad al-Sharaaa, a man with a jihadist past, whom he was scheduled to meet in the afternoon at the Élysée Palace ahead of a rare joint press conference.

"If we are bringing him here, it is precisely to ask him to go further on the fight against impunity," said the french foreign minister, calling for those responsible "for the massacre on the western coast of Syria against the Alawite communities, as well as those responsible for the massacres against the Druze just a few days ago," to be brought to justice.

The massacres that killed 1,700, mostly Alawites, in the west of the country in March, as well as recent clashes with the Druze, and abuses reported by NGOs, have raised doubts about the new Syrian authorities' ability to control extremist fighters affiliated with them.

On the issue of counter-terrorism, "if we are engaging in this demanding dialogue with the Syrian Transitional Authority, it is because if Syria were to collapse today, if it were to fragment, well it would be a red carpet for Daesh [the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group]," he stated.

By hosting the Syrian president, Macron hopes to support a transition toward “a free, stable, sovereign Syria respectful of all components of Syrian society,” the Élysée Palace said Tuesday in a statement to AFP.