Syria's leader set to visit Berlin with deportations in focus

On his first visit to Germany since ousting Syria's longtime leader Bashar al-Assad, Sharaa is also set to meet President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The former Islamist rebel chief has made frequent overseas trips as he undergoes a rapid reinvention, including to the United States and France, and a series of international sanctions on Syria have been lifted.

The focus of next week's visit for the German government will be on stepping up repatriations of Syrians, a priority for Merz's conservative-led coalition since Assad was toppled.

Roughly one million Syrians fled to Germany in recent years, many of them arriving in 2015-16 to escape the civil war.

A German government spokesman said Berlin had an "interest in deepening and finding a new start with the new Syrian government".

Among topics on the agenda will be "the return of Syrians to their home country," he confirmed.

Merz, who fears being outflanked by the far-right AfD party on immigration, has previously insisted that there is "no longer any reason" for Syrians who fled the war to seek asylum in Germany.

In December, Germany carried out its first deportation of a Syrian since the civil war erupted in 2011, flying a man convicted of crimes to Damascus.

But rights groups have criticised such efforts, citing continued instability in Syria and evidence of rights abuses.
'Dramatic situation'
Violence between the government and minority groups has repeatedly flared in multi-confessional Syria since Sharaa came to power, including recent clashes between the army and Kurdish forces.

Several NGOs, including those representing the Kurdish and Alawite Syrian communities in Germany, have urged Berlin to axe Sharaa's planned visit, labelling it "totally unacceptable".

"The situation in Syria is dramatic. Civilians are being persecuted solely on the basis of their ethnic or religious affiliation," they said in a joint statement.

"It is incomprehensible to us and legally and morally unacceptable that the German government knowingly intends to receive a person suspected of being responsible for these acts at the chancellery."

The Kurdish Community of Germany, among the signatories of that statement, also filed a complaint with German prosecutors in November, accusing Sharaa of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

But the German foreign ministry insisted treatment of minorities in Syria was "very important" for Berlin.

"I would like to reject the suggestion that we are not addressing this issue," a ministry spokesman told a press conference in Berlin.

"It is one of the central topics we are discussing with the Syrian government."

Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who has been among those voicing caution with regard to deportations, will also meet his Syrian counterpart in Berlin next week.

On a trip to Damascus in October, Wadephul said that the potential for Syrians to return was "very limited" since the war had destroyed much of Syria's infrastructure -- triggering a backlash in his own centre-right party.

Armin Laschet, a former chancellor candidate for Merz's CDU party, told AFP in an interview that Sharaa should "clearly hear Europe's expectations" on the protection of minorities during the visit.

But Laschet, currently an MP and chairman of parliament's foreign affairs committee, supported the decision to host Sharaa at the chancellery.

"Dialogue is necessary, especially against the backdrop of recent fighting," he said. "Sharaa faces an extraordinarily demanding task."