France has started the process of returning to Syria assets worth €51 million ($58 million) that were confiscated from former vice president Rifaat Al Assad, under an agreement signed during President Emmanuel Macron's visit to Damascus.
The funds, which were confiscated by a French court order, will help to finance development projects that will benefit the Syrian population, according to an agreement signed during Mr Macron's visit.
Discussions on the transfer began in February when a Syrian delegation visited Paris. “It's the first time that funds looted by the former authorities would be returned to the Syrian state,” lawyer Mohammad Al Abdallah, director of the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre, said at the time.
Al Assad, the uncle of former president Bashar Al Assad, was sentenced to prison in France in 2022 for embezzling Syrian state funds and using them to build a property empire across Europe. His assets in the country have been estimated at €90 million.
The agreement is one of many signed between France and Syria during Mr Macron's visit to Damascus.
The two countries on Tuesday established a comprehensive framework for co-operation in the economic, cultural and heritage, educational, healthcare, security and justice sectors amid efforts to rebuild Syria, strengthen its security and help it achieve prosperity.
France will continue to support Syria and its pursuit of prosperity, Mr Macron said on Tuesday, hours after explosions were heard in Damascus as he was on his way to meet Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara.
The explosions, which left 18 people injured, took place near the hotel where Mr Macron was staying.
Mr Macron did not hear the blasts and met Mr Al Shara shortly after they took place, his office confirmed.
“We stood by the Syrian people when they sought unity and freedom, and we never wavered from that path. We remained steadfast to the very end and were among the first to reopen ties when the time came to do so at the dawn of this new era,” Mr Macron said.
Paris has “always championed the interests of the Syrian people – supporting their unity and today, their desire to regain prosperity”, he added. “That is where France, along with the companies and investors present here, will continue to stand.
“Syria will thus have the more than €50 million euros, derived from the seizure of the former dictator's family's ill-gotten gains, returned to it. We were the first to initiate this legal action and see it through to the end, and we will continue to pursue such cases wherever possible, with these funds being returned to the Syrian people to finance concrete development projects within the country.”
Mr Macron is the first EU head of state to visit Syria since the Assad regime was overthrown in December 2024.
