DAMASCUS

The EU’s envoy to Syria headed to Damascus on Dec. 16 to hold talks with the country’s new rulers, with France announcing that it will send a diplomatic mission to the country.

After facing down a democracy revolt in 2011 with a crackdown that sparked 13 years of civil war, Bashar al-Assad fled after a rebel offensive brought his rule to a stunning end.

Governments are carefully calibrating their response to the new reality, especially in countries where the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that is now in charge remains proscribed as a “terrorist” organization.

“Our top diplomat in Syria will go to Damascus today. We’ll have the contacts there,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.

“We can’t leave a vacuum,” she said, adding: “For us, it’s not only the words, but we want to see the deeds going to the right direction. So not only what they are saying, but also what they are doing.”

Paris’ aim of this mission is to “establish the first contact, and to measure … the urgent needs of the Syrian population on a humanitarian level, but also to check whether the statements of this new authority … are followed by actions in the field,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.

He explained that four French diplomats would take part in the delegation “in the first diplomatic visit from Paris to Damascus in 12 years.”

Meanwhile, this week several reports said that the Assad family, which has ruled Syria since Hafez al-Assad seized power in 1970, is alleged to have established an extensive network of investments over the decades.

The Central Bank of Syria secretly transferred $250 million in cash to Moscow by plane in 2018 and 2019, according to Financial Times.

The Assad family was buying luxury properties in Moscow through schemes using a network of shell companies and loan agreements.

According to officials cited by The Wall Street Journal, the family’s assets reportedly include prime real estate in Russia, boutique hotels in Austria and a private jet based in Dubai.

The exact scale of the family’s wealth remains unclear. A 2022 report by the U.S. State Department estimated the value of their assets to be between $1 billion and $12 billion. Human rights groups are reportedly preparing legal challenges to target the Assads’ immense fortune. However, with much of their wealth believed to be located in Russia and the United Arab Emirates, these legal efforts could take years to yield results.

British media reports also claimed that the ousted president has a frozen bank account in London containing $69.4 million.

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