Syria updates: Germany halts asylum proceedings for Syrians

The director of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdulrahman, said Israel's military had struck more than 100 targets across the country in roughly the past 12 hours. 

He said the attacks appeared to be targeting core military facilities, including one suspected to be linked to chemical weapons production. 

"Israeli warplanes launched over 100 strikes in Syria today, including on the Barzah scientific research center," Abdulrahman told the French AFP news agency, also issuing similar comments to the German dpa. 

He said that the targets appeared to include "research centers, weapons, warehouses, airports and aircraft squadrons in various areas in Syria, resulting in their complete destruction, disabling air defense systems and putting those sites out of service."

He also mentioned raids targeting boats in the western port city of Latakia.

The Israeli Army Radio, or Galatz, cited an unnamed military source as saying the IDF had struck some 250 "military targets" in Syria, calling it "one of the largest attack operations in the history of the air force."

Israel and its military have not commented on the reported military operations.

It is however thought to have fairly frequently struck targets in Syria from the air — only comparatively rarely acknowledging that it did so — over the past few years, and on an intensified scale since Hamas' October 7, 2023 terror attack.

Israel told the UN Security Council on Monday that it had taken "limited and temporary measures" in a demilitarized strip around its de facto border with Syria in the contested Golan Heights, after the UN complained these actions violated the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement between Israel and Syria. 

"It is important to emphasize, however, that Israel is not intervening in the ongoing conflict between Syrian armed groups; our actions are solely focused on safeguarding our security," Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon wrote to the 15-member Council. 

He said Israel remained committed to the 1974 accord. Israel's military had said on Sunday that it moved into some posts in the demilitarized area amid a power vacuum as Syrian government forces deserted. It also told residents of some of these areas to remain indoors for their own safety.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said earlier on Monday that UN peacekeepers were aware of a continued Israeli presence at "at least three locations." He said Israel had informed peacekeepers of the move and said it was to prevent "non-state armed groups" from filling the vacant posts amid the turmoil.  

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said it was important the measure indeed proved to only be "temporary," but also voiced understanding for the decision as Assad's forces collapsed. 

"Every country has the right to take action against terrorist organizations and every country, I think, would be worried about a possible vacuum that could be filled by terrorist organizations on its border," Miller said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Assad's overthrow a "great opportunity" but warned it "also carries considerable risk." 

Speaking at a State Department event, Blinken said the US had a clear interest in avoiding the "fragmentation of Syria," as well as the "export of terrorism and extremism." 

He said this particularly applied to the remnants of the so-called Islamic State, or ISIS, to use the acronym Blinken did, in central Syria. 

"ISIS will try to use this period to re-establish its capabilities, to create safe havens," he said. "As our precision strikes over the weekend demonstrate, we are determined not to let that happen." 

The US military's Central Command (CENTCOM) said late on Sunday that it had struck dozens of targets in central Syria from the air during the course of the day.

It didn't give an indication of casualty figures but said it believed there had been no civilian casualties.

The US Treasury Department on Monday said it was sanctioning Bashar Assad's British-based father-in-law, Fawaz Akhras, for providing "support and facilitation to Bashar al-Assad related to financial matters, sanctions evasion and attempts by Bashar al-Assad to achieve international political engagement." 

The step was announced as part of a series of personal sanctions against individuals in several countries to mark International Human Rights Day.

Akhras, a trained cardiologist, was born in Homs in Syira in 1946, is a dual Syrian and UK national, and is the founder of the British Syrian Society. 

His daughter, Asma, married Assad in 2000. 

British newspaper the Daily Mail reported on Monday, citing friends and neighbors of Akhras in North Acton in West London, that the physician's family home had been empty for around a week. Locals told the paper they believed he and his wife, a retired diplomat, had gone to Moscow to link up with Assad and their daughter.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey was reopening its Yayladagi border gate with Syria to manage the safe and voluntary return of the Syrian migrants. 

"We are opening the Yayaldagi border gate to crossing to prevent any congestion and ease traffic," Erdogan said, speaking after a Cabinet meeting in Ankara.

The crossing, close to the northwestern tip of Syria, has been closed since 2013 as a result of fighting near the border. 

"We will also manage the processing of immigrants' voluntary returns in a way befitting our hosting," Erdogan said.

NATO member Turkey hosts some 3 million Syrians displaced by fighting in the past roughly 13 years, more than any other country. 

It also controls large parts of northern Syria, either directly or via proxies, after several cross-border incursions against the Kurdish YPG forces that it deems to be linked to the Kurdish PKK independence movement outlawed in Turkey. 

Erdogan however asserted on Monday that this had been done for domestic security purposes. 

"Turkey has no eye on the territory of any other country," he said. "The only aim for our cross-border operations is to save our homeland from terrorist attacks," he said. 

DW spoke with rights activist Omar Alshogre, who spent around three years in a pair of notorious jails before escaping Syria, about his response to the fall of deposed leader Bashar Assad's regime. 

"I've been waiting for that moment for 14 years," Alshogre, now the director for detainee affairs at the US-based Syrian Emergency Task Force NGO, said. "Fourteen years of displacement, of torture, of killing — and then I see it. Early, early in the morning and the people are out on the street. Assad regime has fallen. I could scream very, very, very, loud for that, but I cried because it deserves the tears of joy." 

"This regime has killed my father and my brothers and bombed my school and burned my town and tortured me for three years. So the joy is unmatchable," he said.

He discussed conditions during his time in prison, saying for instance that a guard might come into a cell and tell its occupants that they must select one from their cell to be killed the following day. 

"And then we have to make a lottery to choose one of us to be killed tomorrow." 

He criticized the international community for doing so little to bring an end to the conflict in Syria. 

"This regime has killed Syrians for over 50 years. It's not new. The world knew about it. However, as we mentioned, the world have seen us struggle and left us alone. We fought alone, we were in pain and we were tortured alone and we dreamed alone. We hoped alone. And today, we win alone, actually," Alshogre said. 

You can watch the full interview here. 

The EU's foreign policy commissioner, Kaja Kallas, called for all stakeholders in Syria to work towards an "orderly, peaceful and inclusive transition" in a statement published on Monday. 

"Today we stand with all Syrians, both in the country and in the diaspora, who are full of hope, but also those who fear an uncertain future," she said. "All must have an opportunity to reunify, stabilize and rebuild their country, restore justice and ensure accountability." 

She called Assad's fall a historic moment for a people who had "endured immense suffering and demonstrated extraordinary resilience" in recent years. 

Kallas also said it was "critical to preserve the territorial integrity of Syria and to respect its independence, its sovereignty, as well as state institutions, and to reject all forms of extremism." 

The EU is not currently in contact with the HTS rebels in Syria that spearheaded the military push in recent days, a Commission spokesman said in Brussels on Monday when asked.

He noted that HTS, an Islamist group and former al Qaeda affiliate, was on the UN terror list and was subject to EU sanctions as a result. 

In the run-up to the sudden rebel offensive and fall of the Assad regime, the EU had been taking tentative and controversial steps to rebuild bridges with the now ousted regime in Damascus.

Syrian rebels from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militant group which toppled President Bashar Assad this weekend say they have granted amnesty to Syrian army personnel conscripted under the previous regime.

HTS made a similar offer last week ahead of the liberation of Aleppo, urging regime troops to defect in return for immunity from prosecution.

"Everyone who worked in the Assad regime's army, security, police, auxiliary forces, popular committees, and the like must report to the designated police stations and bring with them personal identification, weapons and a full pledge," the group's Military Operations Department said at the time.

The original offer was valid until December 6 but has now reportedly been extended nationwide.

Here are some of the main developments the day after decades of Assad family rule in Syria came to an abrupt end.

The EU called for an "orderly, peaceful and inclusive transition" in Syria after Assad fled, but said it had not yet sought contact with the Islamist rebels that ousted him in a lightning offensive lasting less than a fortnight.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) issued an appeal saying that Assad's fall provided "the moment" to rid Syria of chemical weapons, which it believes Damascus tried to hide from its investigators in recent years.

The UN Security Council is expected to hold closed-door emergency consultations later in New York at the request of Assad ally Russia. 

Asked about Russian state media reports the previous day that Bashar Assad was granted asylum and had arrived in Moscow, the Kremlin declined to comment. 

Thousands of Syrian refugees have gathered at the Turkish border, hoping to return home. 

And in Europe, Austria and Germany both suspended their appraisals of Syrian asylum applications on Monday, saying it was obviously not possible to gauge security and stability in the country at present. 

 

Hundreds of Syrian refugees gathered at two border points in southern Turkey, eagerly awaiting their chance to go home.

Many had arrived at the Cilvegozu and Oncupinar crossings at dawn, telling journalists they had fled out of fear of persecution by Assad's regime.

Turkish authorities said that were letting through all Syrians who wanted to return home and had proper documentation.

Assad's flight to Russia caused widespread joy among the 3 million Syrian refugees currently in Turkey.

"We are very happy that Assad is gone. There is no more torture. God willing, Syria will be better," Damascus native Mohammed al Muhbuhar told French news agency AFP.

Hundreds of displaced Syrians also began returning from Lebanon on Monday.

The United Nations chemical weapons watchdog OPCW warned the new authorities in Syria to make sure the country's cache of chemical weapons were safe after Assad fled. 

OPCW said it had contacted the interim government "with a view to emphasising the paramount importance of ensuring the safety and security of all chemical weapons related materials and facilities" in Syria.

Syria originally agreed to the join the OPCW and sign onto its charter following an infamous 2013 alleged chemical attack that killed 1,400 people, many of them civilians, near Damascus.

However, OPCW said that Assad's accounting of the weapons stockpile "cannot be considered as accurate and completel," adding that "significant amounts of chemical weapons [are] unaccounted for."

In 2018, OPCW accused Syrian troops of once again using chemical weapons against civilians.

The organization said it was hoping to work with Syrian authorities soon to address the issues.

Germany and the UK  said  they will be monitoring Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist militant group that led the rebel coalition that toppled Syrian PresidentBashar Assad, before determining their stance on the group.

"Ultimately we have to judge HTS on their actions," a German Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Monday, adding that the group's treatment of minorities will determine Berlin's stance towards them.

HTS is designated as a terrorist group by the US, Turkey and the United Nations, although it has spent years trying to soften its image to reassure international governments and minority groups within Syria.

"In recent months and years, HTS has endeavored to distance itself from its jihadist origins and to build up civilian structures," the spokesperson said.

"Whether these efforts can now be taken seriously will be seen in particular in the treatment of civilians and especially minorities in the areas they now control," the spokesperson added.

HTS initially had links to al-Qaeda but cut ties in 2016. Leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani has increasingly attempted to portray himself as a moderate.

Al-Golani has "distanced himself in a way from the things that have been said in the past," said UK cabinet minister Pat McFadden, telling BBC on Monday that HTS' designation as a terror group would have to be reconsidered.

"A lot will depend on whether statements about the protection of minorities and citizens are backed up," he said, echoing the German position.

Syria is home to multiple ethnic and religious communities, often pitted against each other by Assad's state and years of war.

The United Nations (UN) has insisted on "accountability" for "serious human rights violations" committed by former Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.

"Any political transition must ensure accountability for perpetrators of serious violations and guarantee that those responsible are held to account," UN human rights chief Volker Türk told reporters in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday.

"It is imperative that all evidence be collected and preserved meticulously for future use," he continued, adding that there are "serious grounds" to believe that the "former president of Syria and whoever was in senior leadership positions … may have committed atrocity crimes," he said.

More than 100,000 people have disappeared during the civil war in Syria over the past 13 years, a "tragedy" that Türk said must be addressed.

A day after the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, debate began in Germany about the possible return of Syrian migrants and asylum-seekers to their home country.

Senior leaders of Germany's opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and its Bavarian sister party Christian Social Union (CSU), suggested encouraging Syrians to return to their homeland.

"As a first step, I would say that we are making an offer. How about the German government saying: anyone who wants to go back to Syria, we'll charter planes for them and give them a starting payment of €1,000 ($1,060)," Jens Spahn, a prominent CDU politician, told broadcaster RTL/ntv on Monday morning.

Spahn, a former health minister, said Germany should also push for an international conference on rebuilding Syria along with Turkey, Austria and Jordan.

The debate, however, has also drawn criticism, particularly from politicians from Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the environmentalist Greens.

SPD politician Michael Roth warned against engaging in such a discussion, saying that it’s too early to say what the future holds for the war-ravaged nation.

Katrin Göring-Eckardt, a Green politician, shares a similar view.

"After a day and a half, I find this an inappropriate domestic policy debate," Göring-Eckardt told rbb radio in Berlin.

If Syria becomes a safe country, people should and will return, but that debate should wait until order and stability are restored in the country, she said.  "We should support everything that goes in the direction of freedom, stability and democratic conditions in Syria."

Germany is set to temporarily suspend decisions on asylum applications from Syrian citizens following the toppling of former President Bashar Assad, according to a spokesperson for the Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).

The halt applies to more than 47,000 asylum applications from Syrians in Germany, the spokesperson said. 

"The BAMF takes a very close look at the individual cases, including an assessment of the situation on the ground in the country of origin," an Interior Ministry spokesman told journalists in Berlin.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that "the end of the brutal tyranny of the Syrian dictator Assad is a great relief for many people who have suffered from torture, murder and terror."

"Many refugees who have found protection in Germany now finally have hope of returning to their Syrian homeland and rebuilding their country," she added.

There are 974,136 Syrian nationals currently living in Germany, according to the German Interior Ministry.

Of those, 5,090 are recognized asylum seekers and 321,444 have refugee status.

Germany's neighbor Austria also said it was suspending all Syrian asylum applications and wanted to deport refugees back to the country.

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner added he has "instructed the ministry to prepare an orderly repatriation and deportation program to Syria." 

A further 329,242 people have so-called subsidiary protection status,

Subsidiary protection is available to those who do not qualify as refugees as defined by the Geneva Refugee Convention, but who are in serious danger in their home country.

Austria has also reporteldy suspended 7,300 ongoing Syrian asylum applications.