In late February a French parliamentary delegation secretly flew into Damascus, where its members met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a move seen by many in Paris as a sign that Elysee has revised its policy on Syria. Like many of its Western partners, the French government had ruled out talks with the Assad regime as the Syrian conflict brewed into civil war. The visiting delegation from the French National Assembly and Senate consisted of Gerard Bapt, a deputy from the governing Socialist Party; Senator Jean-Pierre Vial, a member of the main opposition Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) and chairman of the France-Syria Friendship Group; Jacques Myard, a UMP parliamentarian; and Senator Francois Zocchetto, a member of the Centrist Alliance.
Official ties between the two countries were severed in March 2012, when France withdrew its diplomats from Syria. Since that time, “Assad must go” has defined Quai d'Orsay's Syria policy. There have, however, been recent attempts at dialogue between the two governments.
