CAIRO (Reuters) - Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa received an invitation from French President Emmanuel Macron to visit France in the coming weeks, the Syrian president's office said in a statement on Wednesday. The two also discussed in a phone call the economic sanctions imposed on the Syrian people, the office added.

France, like other EU countries, has expressed a desire to engage with Syria’s new administration and lift sanctions on the country.

Syria’s new interim leader, meeting on Tuesday with the president of Turkey, thanked him for backing the rebel forces that toppled the Assad dictatorship and said he now sought