Germany’s Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock has urged Israel and Turkey not to jeopardise a peaceful transition in Syria after the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad.
Speaking at a press conference in Berlin, Baerbock stressed, “We must not allow the internal Syrian dialogue process to be torpedoed from the outside.” She added, “Neighbours such as the Turkish and Israeli governments, which are asserting their security interests, must not jeopardise the process.”
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, since Assad’s downfall, Israel has launched strikes on military sites in Syria ranging from weapons depots to naval vessels.
Israel has also sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone east of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
Turkey meanwhile is worried Kurdish separatists could take advantage of Assad’s ouster to extend their influence in Syria, where they have dominated a large north-eastern area since 2012.
Ankara sees the Kurdish forces, notably the militant group YPG, as an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), which has fought a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state since the 1980s.
Since Assad fled, Turkish-backed groups have launched offensives in northern Syria.
According to reports, the Kurdish-led force in the north-east of the country said early on Wednesday, December 11, 2024, that it had reached a US-brokered ceasefire with the Turkish-backed fighters in Manbij, an Arab-majority city that has seen fierce clashes.
Baerbock stressed that Syria’s “new chapter” was still being written, adding that “the outcome of the revolution is not certain, nor have the people won the transition to a free and peaceful Syria.”
“We must now seek to promote positive developments in Syria and prevent negative influences. In very specific terms, this means that a Syrian-led dialogue process is needed, which we as Europeans and as Germans will support.”
“Syria must not be allowed to become a pawn in the hands of foreign powers or forces again.”
Annalena Baerbock
Germany To Increase Presence In Syria
Moreover, German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock said that her country will increase its presence in Syria with the goal of dismantling the arsenal of chemical weapons left behind after the recent ousting of President Bashar al-Assad.
Baerbock said, “We now have the chance to keep the world safe from al-Assad’s chemical weapons once and for all,” offering German assistance for the removal and destruction of weaponry, a process it has previously aided in Syria. “The weapons that still exist must therefore be placed in international custody as quickly as possible,” she added.
Baerbock also announced the appointment of Tobias Lindner, a senior official at her ministry, as Germany’s special coordinator for Syria.
Additionally, Baerbock announced that Germany is also set to provide €8 million ($8.4 million) in an initial package of humanitarian aid to Syria to help stabilize the country.
Syria’s food prices have drastically increased amid the ousting of al-Assad’s government, who fled Damascus for Moscow as rebel forces swept through the country.
Noting that the price of bread alone has risen by 900% in the past few days, Baerbock said that more aid needed to reach local people quickly.
Separately, France’s foreign ministry stated that Israel must withdraw forces from the buffer zone separating the annexed Golan Heights from Syrian territory. “Any military deployment in the separation zone between Israel and Syria is a violation of the disengagement agreement of 1974,” a foreign ministry spokesperson said.
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced on Sunday, December 8, 2024, that he had ordered the army to “seize” the demilitarised zone in the Syrian-controlled part of the Golan Heights after rebels swept Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad from power.
READ ALSO: Ghana Records Impressive 7.2% Economic Growth in Q3 2024
