Germany: Syrian deportations plan 'symbolic politics' DW 10/21/2025

"The German government is determined to reach a deal with Damascus to accelerate the repatriation of Syrian war refugees, despite concerns about the humanitarian situation in a country where violence continues and the economy and infrastructure have been devastated. In late September, Germany Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told the Rheinische Post newspaper that he intended to "reach an agreement with Syria this year and then initially deport criminals and later people without residence permits." But that might be easier said than done, for both legal and humanitarian reasons. "Syria is at its limit; its capacity to take in refugees has already been exhausted," Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, director of the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) in Syria, told the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper last week."

"Humanitarian catastrophe The German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development says that some 7 million people remain internally displaced within Syria. This is on top of the 1 million war refugees who have returned to the country mainly from Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey in the nine months after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's government in December last year. In August, it was reported that 1,300 Syrians had returned home from Germany since the fall of Assad."

Germany is pursuing an agreement with Syria to accelerate repatriation of Syrian war refugees, planning initially to deport criminals and later undocumented migrants. UNHCR warns Syria's capacity to absorb returnees is exhausted and that returning more people will worsen one of the world's largest refugee crises. Millions remain internally displaced and around one million returned from neighboring countries after the regime's fall, while some thousands have returned from Germany. Syrian infrastructure and the economy are devastated, creating severe humanitarian needs and insufficient housing. Individual returnee testimonies and UN assessments confirm dire living conditions and limited capacity for reintegration.

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