Germany and Syria Announce Joint Task Force for Large-Scale Refugee Repatriation

Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin on Monday, with the two governments announcing a joint push to repatriate the roughly one million Syrians currently living in Germany and to support the reconstruction of their war-damaged country. Merz said after a joint press conference that he expected 80 (percent) — share of Syrians in Germany Merz expects to return within three years of those Syrians to return home within the next three years. The visit, the first by al-Sharaa to Germany, drew both diplomatic fanfare and sharp political criticism over the Syrian leader's past as the commander of an HTS militia and his earlier leadership of the al-Nusra Front, once allied with al-Qaeda. The German government district around the chancellery was largely cordoned off for the occasion, underscoring the security and diplomatic weight attached to the meeting.

Merz sets three-year target for mass returns Merz said Germany was prepared to keep Syrians who were well integrated into German society, but made clear that those who had been convicted of crimes or who, in his words, abused German hospitality should be deported as quickly as possible. He framed the broader return as both a German interest and a Syrian one, arguing that refugees had skills and experience that Syria urgently needed. „They will play an important role in Syria following years of destruction of businesses, schools, nurseries and hospitals” — Friedrich Merz via Reuters The two governments announced the creation of a joint task force for reconstruction and return, and Merz said a German delegation would travel to Syria within days. Merz also said that general conditions in Syria had "fundamentally improved" since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, a position that put him at odds with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who visited a devastated suburb of Damascus last year and reportedly told the joint CDU/CSU parliamentary group that Syria looked worse than Germany did in 1945. Non-governmental organizations have also raised concerns about conditions on the ground for returning refugees.

Al-Sharaa calls for circular migration model with Germany Al-Sharaa, who is 43 years old, thanked Germany for opening its doors to Syrian refugees during the civil war and said the two countries were restoring their partnership. He described a vision in which Syrian talent abroad could contribute to rebuilding the country while maintaining ties with Germany. „We are working with our friends in Germany to establish a model of circular migration that allows Syrian talents to contribute to rebuilding their country” — Ahmed al-Sharaa via Reuters Al-Sharaa was received with full diplomatic honors at Bellevue Palace by Steinmeier, in addition to his meeting with Merz at the chancellery. Dozens of his supporters gathered at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Berlin, where al-Sharaa was staying, chanting "Allahu Akbar" upon his arrival, according to reporting by Deutsche Welle and Italian outlets citing images shared by the Syrian state news agency SANA. The tabloid Bild described the visit as the most controversial state visit of the year, pointing to al-Sharaa's past and ongoing human rights concerns.

SPD lawmaker warns of human rights conditions on reconstruction aid The visit drew criticism from within Germany's political spectrum, including from the center-left. Social Democratic Party lawmaker Hakan Demir said on public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk that al-Sharaa was an "Islamist" who had not distanced himself from his past, and noted that the United States had placed a bounty of ten million dollars on him approximately two years ago. Demir also said that a suit did not make a democrat. At the same time, Demir acknowledged that Germany could not limit its diplomatic engagement exclusively to democratic states, and argued that the quality of the engagement mattered more than the fact of it. He called on Germany to link any reconstruction support to concrete guarantees on human rights and minority rights, citing threats to Christians, Alawites, Druze, and Kurds inside Syria. The visit took place against the backdrop of a German government that has tightened asylum controls since Merz's coalition took power, amid rising support for the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party. Approximately 700,000 of the one million Syrians in Germany are classified as asylum seekers, according to Deutsche Welle, making the question of their future one of the most politically charged issues in the country.

Syria's civil war began in 2011 and lasted more than a decade, displacing millions of people across the region and into Europe. Germany became one of the largest host countries for Syrian refugees, particularly after Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door policy during the 2015 migration crisis. Bashar al-Assad was ousted in late 2024, with HTS-led forces playing a central role in the offensive that ended his rule. Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Julani, previously led the al-Nusra Front from 2012 to 2017, a group that was at that time affiliated with al-Qaeda, before rebranding and eventually leading the transitional government in Damascus from January 2025.