Germany reopens its embassy in Syria, 13 years after it was closed

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Germany's foreign minister reopened its embassy in Damascus on Thursday, 13 years after it was shut in the early days of Syria’s civil war, saying that Europe needs “eyes and ears” on the ground as it follows the Syrian political transition.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock reopened the embassy before meeting interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa and others during a visit to Damascus, her second since the fall of former President Bashar Assad in December.

Among the European Union's 27 members, Italy reopened its embassy last year before the fall of Assad, and Spain reopened its embassy after his ouster.

“With this embassy opening, we are saying very clearly that Germany is back in Damascus, Germany has a paramount interest in a stable Syria,” Baerbock told reporters.

For the time being the embassy will have a very small team, supported by colleagues based in neighboring Lebanon, and offer no consular or visa services, she said. It is led by a charge d'affaires for now. "Whether there will in the future be an ambassador again depends on further political and, of course, security developments here,” she added.

“We want the political process in Syria to move forward and to support it as well as is possible,” Baerbock said. “For that, we as Europeans and as the Federal Republic of Germany need our colleagues as eyes and ears on the ground.”

Her visit followed clashes earlier this month between fighters loyal to Assad and forces of the country’s new rulers that sparked the worst violence since the civil war, leaving about 1,000 dead, most of them members of Assad’s Alawite minority community.

Baerbock said that in her talks with the transitional government, she "emphasized that it's now up to them to hold those responsible to account.”

The interim government earlier this month signed a deal with the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast. Baerbock praised that agreement and said there needs to be inclusion for other groups as well so that they can feel they’re “part of a new Syria.”

Germany, one of the leading powers in the EU, has been a major destination for Syrian refugees over the past decade. If all the millions of Syrians who left the country returned at once, “Syria would collapse,” Baerbock said.

She said the return of those who want to go back would “have to be a step-by-step approach, especially starting with the direct neighboring countries.”