The President of France Emmanuel Macron asked the transitional president to Syria Ahmad al -Sarah, to make every effort “to ensure the protection of all Syrians, without exceptions, whatever their origin, religion, doctrine, beliefs”.
At a joint press conference given by the two leaders, Address Emmanuel Macron also told him that he must ensure that the perpetrators of recent attacks against Drussians and those that committed ‘slaughter’ at the expense of the Alawite community In March in Syria, “they will be prosecuted and tried”.
He even noted that the European Union should ‘To systematically impose sanctions on the perpetrators of such crimes’.
On the other hand, the French President He was in favor of gradual lifting of the economic sanctions imposed by the EU on Damascusas long as the Islamist coalition that took power After the overthrow of Bashar al -Assad stabilize the country. He also said he would put pressure on the US to follow this example.
“I told the President (Sarah) that if he continued on this course, we would do the same. More specifically, we will gradually lift European sanctions, and then we will also push our US partners to follow our example, “Macron said. He then clarified that he would press the EU so that the sanctions would not be renewed in June.
Referring to the Syrian Kurds, the French president said that “we owe them faith” and stressed that he would try to persuade the US not to “quickly” withdraw the forces they had developed during the fight against the Islamic State jihadists. “The interest of everyone, including the Americans, is today (…) to act to remove sanctions against the Syrian people” and “delay the departure of the forces from Syria,” he said.
Sarah said there is nothing to justify the maintenance of sanctions imposed on the previous regime by Bashar al -Assad. In addition to this, France’s contribution to his country’s rebuilding efforts was also discussed, he added.
Syria’s transitional president also revealed that “indirect talks” with Israel are ongoing in order to “calm the situation”. Commenting on Israeli blows in Syria, Macron spoke of a “bad practice” which, in his estimation, does not guarantee Israel’s “security”.
Reuters had reported that the United Arab Emirates had intervened to launch talks between Israel and Syria, as the new Damascus government called for help to deal with its increasingly hostile relationship with its southern neighbor.