A member of the Bundestag from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) faction, Edgar Naujok, believes that the resumption by the German authorities of funding of some humanitarian projects in Syria worth a total of EUR 60 million is an irresponsible step given the unpredictability of the development of the situation in the country.
“It is irresponsible in such an impenetrable situation to distribute German taxpayers' money in Syria without a clear strategy and transparency“, the faction's press service quoted him as saying. “At the same time, there is a great danger that these funds will fall into the wrong hands and ultimately be used to strengthen Islamist groups“, Naujok noted. According to him, “the actions of the German government thus show that it is still completely disconnected from reality“.
Another AfD Bundestag member, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee Markus Frohnmeier, pointed out that political efforts should now be directed at the return to their homeland of all Syrians who have no reason to remain in Germany. “The prospect of providing support to Syria at all is only possible if Syria accepts its citizens from Germany and demonstrates full readiness to assist in their return“, he believes.
At the end of December, German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Svenja Schulze announced that Germany had resumed financial support for a number of humanitarian projects in Syria worth a total of EUR 60 million. EUR 25 million will be allocated to projects through the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), EUR 19 million EUR through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Another EUR 6 million will be allocated to support a project by the organization Arche Nova, which runs schools, EUR 7 million will be allocated to a Syrian non-governmental organization implementing projects to reconcile different groups in the country's population, and EUR 3 million will be made available to the UN Special Fund to Support Women's Organizations in Syria.
At the end of November, armed opposition groups launched a large-scale offensive against Syrian army positions in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo. On December 8, they entered Damascus, after which government forces left the city. Bashar al-Assad resigned as President of Syria and left the country. On December 10, the new Syrian authorities appointed Mohamed al-Bashir as head of the interim government.