The French foreign minister commented on the refusal of Syria's leaders to shake hands with Berbok

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said he wanted representatives of the new Syrian government to shake hands with German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock, but that was not the purpose of his trip. He said in an interview with RTL on January 6, an excerpt published on YouTube.

"Would I have wanted Ahmed al-Sharaa to shake hands with my German counterpart? The answer is yes. Was that the purpose of my trip? The answer is no," the minister said, his words are quoted by Gazeta.Ru.

He added that he came to Damascus to protect the French from the threats posed by the militants of the terrorist group "Islamic State" (IS, banned in Russia) in Syria. And this requires dialog with the Syrian authorities.

Basic issue: Syrian opposition reported meetings with Russian Federation representatives

And while the new ATS authorities are legitimizing their activities, tensions are rising between members of different faiths in the country

Earlier, on January 4, representatives of Syria's new administration refused to shake hands with Annalena Berbok, who, along with her French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot, arrived on an unannounced visit to the Arab republic. In the footage, Berbock can be seen being the first to descend the ramp of the government plane before approaching the delegation of the new Syrian administration. At the same time, both politicians from Syria put their hand to the heart, making it clear that they are not going to shake hands with the head of the German Foreign Ministry.

Earlier, on January 3, it became known that Berbock and Barro went on an unannounced visit to Syria, where they were to meet with representatives of the new authorities in Damascus. The German Foreign Ministry indicated that the trip is carried out "on behalf of the European Union (EU)".

The situation in Syria has escalated as a result of a major attack by armed formations in Aleppo and Idlib, which began on November 28 and led to the Syrian army's retaliation against the militants.