Germany Deports a Syrian to Damascus for the First Time Since 2011

ARK News.. Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Interior announced on Tuesday, December 23, 2025, that it has deported a Syrian national to Damascus for the first time since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011.

According to France Press Agency (AFP), the Interior Ministry said in a statement that “the Syrian migrant, who had previously been convicted of criminal offenses in Germany, was deported to Damascus and handed over to the Syrian authorities on Tuesday morning.”

The German Interior Ministry had announced in July that it would begin deporting Syrians with criminal records, days after Austria became the first European Union country in recent years to take such a step.

A ministry spokesperson said the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) had been tasked with taking measures against what it described as “dangerous and delinquent Syrians.”

The spokesperson stressed that committing serious crimes excludes individuals from the protection afforded by asylum and may lead to the revocation of any status previously granted.

Between January and May this year, BAMF initiated more than 3,500 procedures that could result in the withdrawal of asylum rights granted to Syrian nationals. During the same period, refugee status was revoked in 57 cases, while a lower level of protection was withdrawn in 22 other cases.

The ministry also noted that around 800 Syrians returned to their country during the same period under Germany’s state-funded voluntary return program, which has so far been joined by approximately 2,000 people.

Currently, around one million Syrians live in Germany, most of whom arrived during the large wave of displacement between 2015 and 2016.

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