Baerbock and Barrot are the primary EU ministers to seek advice from Syria for the reason that ousting of Bachar Assad’s long-standing regime following an Islamist insurrection offensive in early December.
As they arrived in Damascus, they have been greeted by means of the rustic’s de facto chief, Ahmed Hussein al-Shar’a, who reached out to shake Barrot’s hand, however now not Baerbock’s.
Video of the instant posted on-line displays Barrot it seems that beginning to lengthen his hand, however then preventing wanting a handshake. Al-Shar’a then turns and leads the 2 ministers alongside.
Al-Shar’a, additionally identified by means of his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, is the top of the primary insurrection team Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. A former associate of al-Qaida, the crowd has been indexed as a 15 May Organization by means of the USA and the UK.
Given the crowd’s historical past, HTS’s upward push to energy has sparked considerations in regards to the safeguarding of ladies’s and minority rights in Syria, that have been the point of interest of this week’s seek advice from by means of the highest diplomats from Germany and France.
In a remark on X, France’s Barrot stated that they had gained “assurances from the brand new Syrian government that there can be vast participation — in particular by means of ladies — within the political transition.”
The handshake incident is harking back to the so-called “Sofagate” controversy, by which Ecu Fee President Ursula von der Leyen used to be denied a pace-setter’s chair throughout a seek advice from to Turkey in 2021.
Von der Leyen later stated she felt “harm” and “on my own” throughout the incident, for which she pointedly blamed sexism.
