France to Send Diplomats to Syria on Tuesday

The sun rises over Damascus days after rebels seized the capital and ousted President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Syria, December 12, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
The sun rises over Damascus days after rebels seized the capital and ousted President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Syria, December 12, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
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France to Send Diplomats to Syria on Tuesday

The sun rises over Damascus days after rebels seized the capital and ousted President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Syria, December 12, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
The sun rises over Damascus days after rebels seized the capital and ousted President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Syria, December 12, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

France will send a team of diplomats to Syria on Tuesday to assess the political and security situation, the foreign ministry said, without specifying whom they would meet.

Most EU governments welcomed Bashar al-Assad's fall but are considering whether they can work with the opposition factions who ousted him, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist group that is designated a terrorist organization by the EU.

"A team of French diplomats will travel to Syria this Tuesday to mark France's willingness to support the Syrian people," the ministry said, adding that they would report back to the foreign minister after a series of contacts there, Reuters reported.

Since cutting ties with Assad in 2012, France has not sought to normalize ties with Syria's government and has backed a broadly secular exiled opposition and Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria.

French officials have met representatives of such groups and Paris has said a political transition in Syria must be credible and inclusive, in line with a framework set out by the United Nations.

Some diplomats say France's relations with Syria's new rulers could benefit from the fact it never sought to normalize ties with Assad.



Ukraine Says It Will Work with US Towards Mutually Acceptable Minerals Deal

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha attends a joint press conference after a meeting with Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys (not pictured) in Kyiv, Ukraine, 01 April 2025. (EPA)
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha attends a joint press conference after a meeting with Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys (not pictured) in Kyiv, Ukraine, 01 April 2025. (EPA)
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Ukraine Says It Will Work with US Towards Mutually Acceptable Minerals Deal

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha attends a joint press conference after a meeting with Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys (not pictured) in Kyiv, Ukraine, 01 April 2025. (EPA)
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha attends a joint press conference after a meeting with Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys (not pictured) in Kyiv, Ukraine, 01 April 2025. (EPA)

Ukraine will work with the United States towards a mutually acceptable text of a minerals deal that the two countries can sign, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Tuesday.

Sybiha told a press conference that one round of consultations had already taken place on a new draft of the minerals deal and that an agreement providing for a strong American business presence in Ukraine would contribute to his country's security infrastructure.

"This process will continue and we will work with our American colleagues to reach a mutually acceptable text for signing," Sybiha said.

The statement came after US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wants to back out of the deal, warning that the Ukrainian leader would face big problems if he did.

Washington proposed an expanded minerals deal to Kyiv after the two sides failed to sign the framework deal during Zelenskiy's visit to the US in late February which ended with Trump berating him in the Oval Office.

The revised proposal would require Kyiv to send Washington all profit from a fund controlling Ukrainian resources until Ukraine had repaid all American wartime aid, plus interest, according to a summary reviewed by Reuters.

Zelenskiy said on Friday that Ukraine would not accept any mineral rights deal that threatened its integration with the EU, but that it was too early to pass judgment on the revised deal.