Syria's foreign minister will attend an international conference in Paris on Thursday as regional and Western powers seek to shield the country during its fragile transition amid ongoing instability across the region.
Asaad Hassan al-Shibani is leading a delegation for a first trip to the European Union since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad and days after President Emmanuel Macron invited Syria's UN-sanctioned President Ahmed al-Sharaa to France.
"This Paris meeting in a way is to help create a protective bubble around the Syria crisis to give them time to resolve it by dissuading the bad losers from destabilizing the country," a French official said.