On 14 September 2018, the German Minister for Foreign Affairs, Heiko Maas, tweeted that his country was ready to participate in Syria’s reconstruction “if there is a political solution leading to free elections”.

For the first time, a Western High Ranking Official is mentioning the option of reconstructing Syria whilst a political solution is being worked out and not once the Western official objectives of “regime change”, have been achieved. By doing this, Germany is the first State to discreetly position itself against the Feltman Directive that Russia made public. [1].

Mr Maas’s tweet came just before a meeting with his Russian partner Sergey Lavrov and after the German Defence Minister, Ursula von der Leyen, gave the orders to the Bundeswehr to get ready to participate in an Allied bombing of Syria.

The Merkel Government is trying to satisfy both the United States (several thousands US soldiers are being « hosted» by Germany) and Russia with which it is hoping to work.

Translation
Anoosha Boralessa

[1] “Parameters and Principles of UN assistance in Syria”, by Jeffrey D. Feltman; “How the administration of the UNO is organising the war”, by Thierry Meyssan, Translation Pete Kimberley, Voltaire Network, 5 September 2018.