French visit to Damascus opens new channels for diplomacy
Recent developments, including a visit by French politicians and the possible replacement of the French ambassador in Lebanon by Emannuel Bonne, who participated in the Syrian-French negotiations, indicate a probable shift in the French position.
A French political delegation has visited Damascus in a trip that carries multiple implications.
Between UN envoy Staffan de Mistura's statements two weeks ago that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is part of the solution in Syria and de Mistura’s return to the Syrian capital on Feb. 26, four French parliamentarians and other Parisian officials traveled to Damascus via Beirut. This is the first time a French official has visited Syria since the French Embassy in Damascus was closed in 2012.
Al-Monitor learned from an anonymous diplomatic Syrian source that the plan for the Feb. 24 visit emerged gradually, on the sidelines of an unofficial visit to Paris by an ecclesiastic delegation from the Syrian town of Maaloula that took place approximately three weeks ago.
With no media coverage, the French nongovernmental organization SOS Chrétiens Orient hosted a group of Syrian Christians, including priests and lay people, who came to Paris to raise funds to contribute to the reconstruction of Christian shrines destroyed by extremist militants in repeated attacks on Christian archaeology sites northwest of Damascus, such as Maaloula and Sidnaya, according to the source.
