German politicians who are already speculating about whether Syrian refugees will go home after the fall of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad are speaking prematurely, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on Monday.
“The end of Syrian dictator Assad’s brutal tyranny is a great relief for many people who have suffered torture, killings and terror,” Faeser said during a visit to London.
Many Syrian refugees in Germany now finally have the hope of returning home and rebuilding their country, she said.
“However, the situation in Syria is currently very unclear. For this reason, concrete return options cannot be foreseen at this time, and it would be doubtful to speculate about them in such a volatile situation,” the minister said.
Senior politicians from the centre-right opposition bloc CDU/CSU spoke out on Monday morning about possible charter flights back to Syria and financial incentives to encourage Syrian refugees to leave the country.
That speculation comes just hours after al-Assad reportedly fled the country amid a swift offensive by a coalition of rebel groups that swept through government-held territory and captured Damascus over the weekend.
