EGN NEWS DESK
Baerbock and Barrot are the primary EU ministers to go to Syria because the ousting of Bachar Assad’s long-standing regime following an Islamist insurgent offensive in early December.
As they arrived in Damascus, they had been greeted by the nation’s de facto chief, Ahmed Hussein al-Shar’a, who reached out to shake Barrot’s hand, however not Baerbock’s.
Video of the second posted on-line exhibits Barrot apparently beginning to prolong his hand, however then stopping in need of a handshake. Al-Shar’a then turns and leads the 2 ministers alongside.
Al-Shar’a, additionally recognized by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, is the pinnacle of the principle insurgent group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. A former affiliate of al-Qaida, the group has been listed as a terrorist group by the United States and the United Kingdom.
Given the group’s historical past, HTS’s rise to energy has sparked issues concerning the safeguarding of ladies’s and minority rights in Syria, which had been the main target of this week’s go to by the highest diplomats from Germany and France.
In a press release on X, France’s Barrot stated that they had obtained “assurances from the brand new Syrian authorities that there will probably be broad participation — significantly by girls — within the political transition.”
The handshake incident is paying homage to the so-called “Sofagate” controversy, wherein European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was denied a pacesetter’s chair throughout a go to to Turkey in 2021.
Von der Leyen later stated she felt “damage” and “alone” through the incident, for which she pointedly blamed sexism.
