French President Emmanuel Macron invited Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria’s new interim president, to Paris, France, on February 5. Macron congratulated Sharaa for “the country’s liberation from the rule of the deposed President Bashar Assad” and affirmed he intends to lift sanctions off Syria. This is apparently the first direct contact between Sharaa and a European head of state. If all goes according to plan, this would also be Sharaa’s first visit to Europe. He recently visited Saudi Arabia for his first trip abroad as president.

Sharaa became leader of Syria after Assad fled Syria on Dec. 8, 2024. He is the longtime leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (hts), an Islamist organization recognized as a terrorist group by many Western governments. hts claims Syria’s new government will be inclusive and, for the moment, opposes one-party Islamist rule.

It is unclear whether this transformation is legitimate or a ruse. Syria is still a divided country with different militias controlling different territory. hts may see there is little hope of holding onto power without some sort of compromise for the other groups. But it would be unusual for a battle-hardened jihadist organization to change course and become a champion for liberal democracy. Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is a case in point.

France knows there is a risk hts could turn Syria into the next Afghanistan. Yet France is still eager to welcome it into the global mainstream. This may play into France’s favor. Syria isn’t going to recover from over a decade of civil war easily. The country needs urgent reconstruction. The sooner powers remove sanctions and aid in reconstruction, the faster the new Syria can become dependent on these backers. France used to be Syria’s colonial master. It has tried to maintain heavy influence in former colonies like Lebanon and West Africa; it may be trying to do the same with Syria.

hts’s main sponsor is Turkey. But Turkey wasn’t alone in orchestrating what happened in Syria in December. Shortly before hts’s lightning offensive, Germany opened up major arms exports to Turkey after years of restraint. Germany’s 2024 arms exports to Turkey, worth $242 million, was the highest level since 2006. Turkey’s famous Bayraktar drones, which hts used against Assad’s forces, also use German components to function.

“It could very well be that events in Syria would not have been possible without Germany’s backing” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in our February issue. “We could say that Germany initiated this uprising! Based on Bible prophecy, I believe we can say this with certainty!”

The prophecy Mr. Flurry referred to is in Psalm 83, which describes a bloc of nations formed “that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance” (verse 4). Neither the Bible nor secular history records an alliance with this purpose and composition, which is why Mr. Flurry labels it a prophecy. Verses 6-8 show this alliance includes “the Hagarenes,” who anciently dwelt in the land of Syria, and “Assur” or Assyria, the ancestral people of modern Germany. (Our relevant Trends article goes into more detail.)

Because of this, we have been expecting since 2012 for the Syrian civil war to end with Germany and Europe on top. Germany was instrumental in pushing Assad out of power. But the work in Syria is not done yet. France is one of Germany’s closest partners and can be considered Germany’s junior partner in running the European Union. France’s eagerness to rehabilitate Sharaa and the hts shows Europe is ready to move into Syria.

To learn more, read Mr. Flurry’s article “Syria’s Fall: Another Key Prophecy Fulfilled.”