No evidence UK has invited Syrian President for state visit

The claim that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has invited Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa on a state visit to the UK is circulating on social media, but we can find no evidence this is the case.

A viral post on X, with more than 13,000 shares, includes photos of each of the two leaders with the caption: “BREAKING: Keir Starmer has invited Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa for a state visit to the UK. This man is a terrorist responsible for the murder of THOUSANDS Christians [sic] in Syria. Starmer is in bed with terrorists.” The claim has also been shared widely on Facebook.

Ahmed al-Sharaa was named Syria’s president in January 2025 after leading a rebel offensive that toppled the 50-year Assad family regime in December 2024. President Sharaa was the former leader of the Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is designated as a terrorist organisation because of its former affiliation with al-Qaeda, both in the UK and elsewhere.

But there’s no evidence the Syrian president has been invited to the UK. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) confirmed to Full Fact that there are no plans for a visit, but said the UK engages regularly with the Syrian government. In February, junior FCDO minister Lord Collins said: “The fact that HTS is a proscribed terrorist group does not prevent the United Kingdom engaging with the interim authorities in our efforts to help secure a political settlement.”

State visits are different from regular diplomatic visits because the foreign monarch or leader is invited as a guest of the King, on advice of the FCDO, and they often involve a ceremonial welcome and a state banquet.

French President Emmanuel Macron hosted Mr al-Sharaa during his first trip to Europe on 7 May, and US President Donald Trump also met with the Syrian leader in Saudi Arabia on 14 May.

There have been outbreaks of violence between different groups in Syria under Mr al-Sharaa’s presidency. In March, 900 civilians mostly belonging to the Alawite sect (loyal to Assad’s regime) were reportedly killed by pro-government forces, while 450 civilians and 170 security personnel were killed by former regime loyalists. A further 109 people were reportedly killed earlier in May in clashes, including civilians and fighters from the Druze religious minority, the new security forces and allied fighters.

We debunked lots of misinformation about Syria following the collapse of the Assad regime last year. These included a photo claiming to be the first picture of Bashar al-Assad and his wife in Moscow, where they were granted asylum, that was actually from 2023, and an image supposedly showing a man found in an underground cell at Saydnaya prison in Syria’s capital, Damascus. It was in fact a screenshot from a video created with artificial intelligence.