“As I travelled here, it was clear to me that there would obviously be no ordinary handshakes,” Baerbock told broadcasters Friday evening.
“But it was also clear … that not only I but also the French foreign minister did not share this view. And accordingly, the French foreign minister did not extend his hands,” she stressed.
Baerbock and Barrot are the first EU ministers to visit Syria since the ousting of Bachar Assad’s long-standing regime following an Islamist rebel offensive in early December.
As they arrived in Damascus, they were greeted by the country’s de facto leader, Ahmed Hussein al-Shar’a, who reached out to shake Barrot’s hand, but not Baerbock’s.
Video of the moment posted online shows Barrot apparently starting to extend his hand, but then stopping short of a handshake. Al-Shar’a then turns and leads the two ministers along.
Al-Shar’a, also known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, is the head of the main rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. A former affiliate of al-Qaida, the group has been listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the United Kingdom.
