France to stand ‘with Syrians’ after Assad’s fall, says envoy in Damascus

Visiting French special envoy for Syria Jean-François Guillaume said Tuesday, December 17, his country was preparing to stand beside Syrians after Bashar al-Assad’s ouster by rebels this month. “France is preparing to be with Syrians for the long term” including the current transitional period, “which we hope will be peaceful,” Guillaume told journalists. His visit to Syria, at the head of a French diplomatic delegation, was also to “make contact with the de facto authorities in Damascus,” he said.

The French embassy in Damascus, shuttered since March 2012, has not yet been reopened, but an Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalist said French security personnel entered the building on Tuesday from the kitchen and broke the main door’s lock. The French flag was raised in the embassy’s entrance hall for the first time since 2012.

At the time, President Nicolas Sarkozy had announced the embassy’s closure to protest the “scandal” of Assad’s bloody crackdown on anti-government demonstrators. The mission was hastily closed, with archives burnt or removed, and computers destroyed.

Asked when the mission would reopen, Guillaume told journalists that he could not set a date “as long as security criteria are not fulfilled.” Foreign governments have begun cautious engagements with Syria’s new interim rulers since rebels by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) seized the capital on December 8.

German diplomats were set to hold talks with Syria’s new administration in Damascus on Tuesday, the foreign ministry said, after the EU’s top diplomat in Syria arrived in Damascus on Monday for meetings.

Qatar’s embassy to Syria was due to hold talks with Syria’s new administration in Damascus on Tuesday, the foreign ministry said, after the EU’s top diplomat on Syria arrived in Damascus Monday for meetings.

Qatar’s embassy to Syria was due to resume operations on Tuesday, the Gulf emirate announced over the weekend, as its diplomats visited the country and met with its transitional government. US and British officials have launched communications with Syrian officials, and Turkey which has long backed rebel groups, has reopened its embassy.