PARIS

The current French ambassador to Iran Francois Senemaud has been named on Wednesday as President Emmanuel Macron's personal representative for Syria.

The appointment was announced at the weekly cabinet meeting.

Senemaud, 61, is expected to leave Tehran in August, Benjamin Griveaux, the government spokesman, told a weekly news briefing and added that France is "not reopening" its embassy.

In 2012, France closed its embassy in Syria without formally breaking off diplomatic relations. Franck Gellet, 54, who has just been appointed as French ambassador to Qatar, was working as French envoy to Syria since 2014.