French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Syria soon, Syrian state media said Sunday, making him the first Western leader to arrive in the country since the ouster of former President Bashar Assad in 2024.

Macron hosted Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the former Islamist leader who seized power in Damascus, in Paris in May 2025, and promised that he would push the European Union and the United States to lift crippling sanctions on Syria, most of which have been removed.