War criminals from the former Assad regime should think twice before trying to pass themselves off as refugees in Germany, the government warns, even as the police raise the alarm on their over-stretched resources not being equal to stopping them if they try.
Germany is extremely proactive in pursuing war criminals and will hold “henchmen” of Bashar al-Assad to account, its left-wing interior and foreign ministers have said. The senior politicians spoke to German newspaper Bild am Sonntag amid widespread discussion in the country — which has been the top destination for Syrian refugees in Europe these past ten years — about whether a new wave of migrants may be about to arrive, the old regime fleeing the new.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock assumed a tough stance and said Germany, which may have historical reasons to be particularly vigilant over fleeing figures from collapsing regimes, would prosecute allies of Assad if they attempted to pass themselves off as refugees in the country. She is reported to have told the paper: “If any of Assad’s torturers are thinking about fleeing to Germany now, I can only say clearly: We will hold all of the regime’s henchmen to account for their terrible crimes with the full force of the law.”
Baerbock called on the “international security authorities and intelligence services” to work together to intercept Assad henchmen as they fled.
Joining these remarks was her colleague, the German interior minister Nancy Faeser told the paper the government is “extremely vigilant” against “henchmen of Assad”, and knowing that “should deter them from daring to try”.
The remarks follow days of speculation about former regime supporters fleeing to Germany. NTV reported on Saturday that Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany’s CDU party and the likely next Chancellor had articulated concerns at Assad supporters coming to Germany and called for enhanced border controls to intercept them.
He was stated to have said: “We Europeans must now work together as quickly as possible to ensure that the Assad regime’s second and third-tier accomplices do not come to Europe and Germany undetected as asylum seekers… We need a stricter border regime, which we will also enforce after the election”.
Yet those tasked with actually protecting those borders question whether, given how few resources the open borders nation actually invests in security, it is possible to intercept Syrian war criminals.
Rheinische Post quoted the Chairman of the Federal Police Union, Andreas Roßkopf who said he too was worried about dangerous regime supporters coming to Germany. He told the paper: “I share the concern that supporters of the Assad regime could flee to Germany. This includes former military officers, torturers or other people who have blood on their hands… Our forces are already completely stretched with controls at all borders. It would therefore be much more important and effective to use information from secret services to stop such perpetrators of the overthrown regime from attempting to flee to Germany”.
Concerningly, it is stated there is already a well developed ratline for Syrian ex-regime officers to make it to Germany. News magazine Focus reports one passenger jet carried 200 fleeing Syrian Army officers into Libya last week, and that this route has been making twice-weekly flights for over a year. It states from the airport, the Syrians are put on buses and taken to fast waiting boats at Libyan ports, which attempt to make it to Europe without being intercepted by the authorities, unlike the slow and unseaworthy rafts used by the majority of illegal migrants.
Focus published the comments of Lawand Kiki from the Syrian Reporting Centre, who predicted: “Despite the now widespread rhetoric of reconciliation, many perpetrators will come to Germany to escape revenge and prosecution in their homeland”.
Also a hotly discussed topic in the past week has been what the fall of Assad means for the millions of Syrians in Europe and when they can start to go home. CDU leader Merz has also spoken on this, treading something of a middle path between the deport-now AfD, and the left which seems embarrassed to have the topic raised at all. He said a Merz government would aid those who wish to go voluntarily, but those with jobs in Germany already could stay.
He said Syrians who don’t wish to integrate into German society would have to leave, however. “If they do not do this voluntarily, then in the future they will be able and required to deport them to Syria”, he said. It is stated over half of the Syrians in Germany are on so-called ‘Citizen’s Allowance’ social security cheques, meaning over half are not officially economically productive.