BERLIN (AP) – German and Austrian interior ministers violated their plans to travel to Syria on Thursday, German authorities said.
Germany’s Nancy Faeser plans to visit Damascus with Austrian counterpart Gerhard Karner, while German military aircraft were supposed to bring Faeser’s delegation to Syria from Jordan on Thursday morning.
But her ministry said the trip could be set off from Amman “due to specific warnings from German security authorities about the terrorist threat,” the German news agency DPA reported. It added that threats to delegations cannot be ruled out and that in view of possible threats, travel is not liable.
The trip has not been announced in advance. The two ministers plan to speak with ministers of the Interim Government and representatives of the United Nations Aid Organization.
Germany, in particular, has been the main destination for Syrian refugees over the past decade.
Last week, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited Damascus and reopened the German embassy 13 years after it was shut down in the early stages of Syria’s early civil war.
Baerbock met with interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa and others, who said Europe needed “eyes and ears” on the ground after the Syrian political transition. This is her second visit since the fall of former President Bashar Assad in December.
