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

BERLIN/DAMASCUS (Own report) - At a four-way summit with the leaders of Russia, Turkey and France, Angela Merkel will seek to influence the future of the northern Syrian province Idlib. The summit, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on the weekend is to be held next week. It will explore options for ending the fighting in the province, where, over the past few weeks, Syrian troops have been advancing on militias. Usually referred to as "rebels" in the German media, they are, in fact, dominated by an al Qaeda subsidiary. The combat has deepened dissention between Russia and Turkey on how to go forward in Syria, raising new hopes among western powers for driving a wedge between Ankara and Moscow. Prior to the summit, however, specialists are pointing out that Berlin hardly has any options for exerting influence in Syria. The EU sees the overthrow of the government in Damascus as the precondition for granting desperately needed reconstruction aid. Read more

BERLIN/WASHINGTON/DAMASCUS (Own report) - Syria faces an open economic war with the new EU and US sanctions, experts contend. A recent analysis of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) notes, the sanctions have a "hugely detrimental impact on the most vulnerable members of Syria's population." The sanctions imposed on Syria have been strongly criticized internationally for many years. Already in 2016, the United Nations noted, that it is the "most complicated and far-reaching sanctions regimes ever imposed." UN officials cite Western sanctions and not the war as the "principal factor" in the erosion of Syria's health care system. Now that Brussels has even extended its sanctions, Washington is about to impose sanctions on all companies and countries lending support to Syrian government projects to rebuild the country. The ECFR speaks of a „scorched earth policy." Read more

DAMASCUS/BERLIN/WASHINGTON (Own report) - Berlin and the EU are intensifying pressure on Damascus in view of the Syrian troops' presumed imminent offensive in Idlib against the jihadi militias, including al-Qaeda's Syrian offshoot. According to a German government spokesperson, it is "anticipated" that the Russian government will "restrain the Syrian regime's escalation." Washington is threatening with an unspecified intervention, should chemicals weapons be used. Syrian jihadists have used chemical weapons in the past, and would be in a position to provoke this US intervention. Since last summer, the Syrian al-Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is in control of Idlib Province, with some 30,000 combatants. Additional smaller, mostly salafist jihadi militias are also ready to battle the Syrian army. By referring to them as "rebels," politicians and media are downplaying the jihadists - including al-Qaeda - as the 17th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approaches. Read more

DAMASCUS/BERLIN (Own report) - In view of Syria's reconstruction, German business circles are preparing to establish a German business office in Damascus. According to a participant, German small and medium-sized enterprises are interested in orders from this war-ravaged country. Syria, however, prioritizes enterprises from countries, which had supported President Bashar al Assad during the war, or, at least, were not engaged in efforts to overthrow him. In recent years, Berlin has pursued a sort of reconstruction in Syria - however, only in insurgent-controlled areas. Today this aid is benefiting jihadis, including the Syrian al-Qaeda offshoot. In the framework of Syria's reconstruction, Berlin is hoping for the speedy return of Syrian refugees. It is also expecting that the 221 students, who had benefited from the state-financed DAAD scholarship program in Germany for the past few years, will return to Syria and aid in securing German influence as "bridge builders" between the two countries. Read more

DAMASCUS/MOSCOW/BERLIN (Own report) - Germany should participate in an exclusive group of four countries to "stabilize" Syria, as Russian government circles confirmed, following last weekend's meeting of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin. By reconciling their interests, Russia, Germany, France, and Turkey want to create a basis for Syria’s reconstruction. For the first time since 1945, the United States is not a participant in a strategically important rebuilding phase in the Middle East. Washington should use its 2,000 soldiers - stationed, devoid of any internationally legal basis, in the Kurdish controlled regions of northeast Syria - as leverage, according to Britain's former foreign minister. Furthermore, China is expected to play a key role in rebuilding the country. Berlin is threatening to withhold funds for reconstruction, if its political interests are not being taken in to account. Read more