BERLIN/DAMASCUS/RIYADH (own report) – With German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on a trip to the Middle East and EU promises to ease sanctions on Syria, Berlin is working to influence the transitional government in Damascus. Steinmeier visited Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Turkey this week for discussions that included developments in Syria. Saudi Arabia and Turkey in particular exert strong influence on the interim president Ahmed al Sharaa. Qatar, whose emir spoke on the phone with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday, is also a key backer. Syria’s interim regime, which has emerged from the long-standing jihadist militia Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), is already facing criticism for creating “informal power structures” and a new “deep state”. At the same time, tensions are rising between the Sunni majority and the Alawite minority. Al-Sharaa is rejecting calls for autonomy from the Kurdish minority in northern Syria. Turkey, meanwhile, has begun military support for Damascus, training and arming the reformed Syrian armed forces. Berlin is keen to cooperate more closely with Ankara. Read more

DAMASCUS/BERLIN (own report) - Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has promised Syria’s new rulers a “new beginning” in bilateral relations. A widening of cooperation is, she says, possible if the new government, installed by the jihadist organisation Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), conducts “a political dialogue involving all ethnic and religious groups” and guarantees women’s rights. Baerbock put forward these conditions on Friday during her first visit to the Syrian capital. The HTS-led government is busy concentrating power in its hands across the country and has begun to set a new political and ideological course. In the education field, for example, non-Islamic content is to be removed from school textbooks and religious expressions such as ‘the damned’ are to be replaced specifically by ‘Jews and Christians’. At the same time, HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa is working closely with old allies Turkey and the Arab Gulf states, hoping now to attract substantial direct investment. The new leaders in Damascus are not prepared to comply with the demands coming from Berlin and the EU that they should close down the Russian military bases immediately. Good relations “with the second most powerful country in the world”, says al-Sharaa, align with Syria’s “strategic interests”. Read more

DAMASCUS/BERLIN (own report) – The German government is pushing for a strong German role in moves to reset foreign relations with Syria. It has announced closer cooperation with the jihadists of Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS). German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock explains that since HTS is “de facto the new strong power in Syria”, Berlin should cooperate with them as part of a “pragmatic approach”. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius chimes in, “We as Europeans, as Germany” must now “see our responsibility to contribute to the stabilisation of the region.” The German government has chosen to play an active part in the fierce struggle between external powers for control over Syria – a struggle which has been ramped up with the fall of Damascus. Two NATO states and one of Germany’s closest allies are among those seeking to control developments in Syria. They have occupied parts of Syria in violation of international law and continue to strike at targets across the country in the wake of Assad’s collapse. These actors are Turkey, the US and Israel. Syria is again becoming a pawn in the hands of external powers from the Western world. Their overriding goal is to disempower their rivals – Russia and Iran. Read more

DAMASCUS/BERLIN (own report) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron have declared that they are “ready” to work together with “the new rulers” in Syria. Both emphasised this stance in a telephone call on Monday evening. Cooperation should, they agreed, be “on the basis of fundamental human rights and the protection of ethnic and religious minorities”. Abu Muhammad al Julani, the leader of Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), a jihadist organisation that rules the governorate of Idlib, is generally regarded as the new “strong man in Syria”. Only selected males have the right to vote in Idlib, women do not. Christians have limited rights, while Alawites and Druze are considered apostates from Islam and are persecuted. Torture is common and dozens of cases of “disappeared” persons have been documented. Journalists critical of HTS have been murdered by HTS militants. Children are told to follow the “path to martyrdom”. The previous prime minister in Idlib has now been appointed prime minister of the Syrian transitional government. Despite the chaotic situation, some German politicians are urging rapid deportations to Syria. Read more

DAMASCUS/BERLIN (own report) - With their sanctions against Syria, Germany and the EU have contributed to the fall of Syrian President Bashar al Assad and the triumph of the jihadist militia Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS). The fact that the HTS offensive could lead to the capture of Damascus in just eleven days had several causes. There was widespread corruption in the Syrian armed forces, and they were in part infiltrated by opposition activists. The internal corrosion meant that the army melted away when the HTS launched its military campaign. State corruption and general discontent among the population were, however, fuelled by Western sanctions, with really drastic consequences. Syrians faced a massive increase in poverty and hunger. As early as 2019, the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) warned that the sanctions ultimately amounted to a “scorched earth policy that indiscriminately and arbitrarily punishes ordinary Syrians”. A beneficiary of the widespread discontent has been the HTS. The Islamist militant group, which was able to establish a repressive regime in the Idlib governorate based on a harsh interpretation of Sharia law, is now taking power in Damascus. Read more

DAMASCUS/BERLIN (Own report) – The rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Syria, after years of conflict, seals the failure of the Western – also German – regime change policy in the Middle East. Twelve years ago, the USA and European powers had attempted to use the protests against President Bashar al Assad to install a pro-Western lackey in Damascus. Concepts for Syria’s transition after Assad’s anticipated overthrow were drawn up eleven years ago. At the time, a member of the German foreign intelligence service was quoted saying, “we can be proud of our important contribution to the overthrow of the Assad regime.” The beginning of Russia’s military deployment in Syria, in September 2015, marked a turning point. And now, the governments of the Arabian Peninsula – once loyal partisans of the West, and fighting at its side to overthrow Assad – have begun to normalize their relations with Syria, parallel to a rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The reconciliation policy in the Middle East has been mediated by China and is heralding the end of Western domination over the region. Read more

DAMASCUS/BERLIN (Own report) – Aid organizations are calling for the immediate lifting of the EU’s sanctions on Syria, because they are blocking emergency aid in the wake of the devastating earthquake. The sanctions have already been “seriously affecting the population for years,” the general secretary of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) declared. Due to the sanctions, even the Church’s “earthquake relief aid does not reach Syria.” The Head of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) reported that the sanctions-related fuel shortage prevents sufficient aid convoys from reaching the region of the earthquake in Syria. For years, the sanctions have been sharply criticized by aid organizations such as Caritas, because they escalate poverty and hunger in the country. According to statistics of the World Food Program (WFP), 12 million, out of the population of 22 million, suffer food insecurity due to the fact that the importation of food, as well as fertilizer and agricultural machines are under sanctions and therefore hardly accessible. Rather than lift sanctions, Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock calls for opening northern Syrian border crossings – thereby instrumentalizing the earthquake, to push through a long-standing Western demand. Read more

BERLIN/IDLIB (Own report) - The German Federal Prosecutor's office is investigating the support of a Syrian jihadi terror organization, which has, in fact, profited from the German government's Syria policy. The investigation focuses on an international network financing Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). HTS, in turn, is the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, which controls the self-proclaimed insurgent Idlib governorate in northern Syria. HTS is accused of the most serious violations of human rights, including murdering those accused of "adultery" and "blasphemy." Such executions are a fundamental element of jihadi rule. The German government had repeatedly put Syria and Russia under heavy pressure not to attack HTS - to the benefit of the terrorist organization. The proceedings against HTS are not the first of their kind. Already in 2016, supporters of another terrorist militia had been found guilty by a German court - the same terror militia, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, foreign minister, at the time, had sought to have included, at all costs, in peace negotiations. Read more

BERLIN/DAMASCUS (Own report) - Berlin's efforts to use the plight of the Idlib refugees to gain influence in northern Syria, have again been unsuccessful. Yesterday, Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recip Tayyip Erdoğan reached a ceasefire accord for Idlib, due to go into effect today, Friday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel had previously sought participation in that summit meeting, while politicians in Berlin were also threatening to impose sanctions on Russia to have a "buffer zone" created in Idlib - both to no avail. If Moscow can successfully stabilize a ceasefire, it will mean that important prerequisites have been obtained for bringing Syria's economy back into swing. In spite of this, demands for a "no-fly-zone" were raised yesterday at a meeting of the EU's foreign ministers. The EU's foreign policy representative called for a "buffer zone in the airspace." It is regrettable that the Union seeks to "speak the language of power," but lacks the means to carry it out, it was alleged. Read more

BERLIN/DAMASCUS (Own report) - The EU is expanding its sanctions on Syria, thus erecting new obstacles on the road to the country's reconstruction. The sanctions imposed last week affect several entrepreneurs, continuing the EU's practice of discouraging potential investors from participating in Syria's reconstruction. The Trump administration is pursuing the same objective with the sanctions it imposed last December, described by experts as far-reaching and possibly affecting individuals and enterprises in all countries and "isolating Syria for years to come." According to US experts, these sanctions could drive the population into poverty uprisings, thus reaching, what could not be achieved through warfare - the overthrow of the Bashar al Assad government. In the European Council on Foreign Relations this is referred to as the second "long war," this time with economic measures. Critics call it a "scorched earth policy." Read more