BERLIN: Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Monday pledged to work with Germany to enable more Syrians to return home and rebuild their country after its devastating civil war, as he made a historic visit to Berlin. Europe&#39;s top economy is home to the largest Syrian diaspora in the European Union at more than a million, many of whom arrived during the peak of the migrant influx in 2015-2016. After meeting Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Sharaa said that &quot;we are working with our friends in the German government to establish a &#39;circular&#39; migration model&quot;. This would &quot;enable Syrians to contribute to the reconstruction of their homeland without giving up the stability and lives they have built here, for those who wish to stay&quot;, he said. Merz, who has made a tougher immigration policy a priority since taking office last year, also said he and Sharaa were &quot;working jointly towards more Syrians being able to return to their homeland&quot;. Sharaa, 43, a former rebel leader, was speaking on his first trip to Germany since ousting his country&#39;s longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad in late 2024. He has managed to build relations with Western governments and made several overseas trips, including to the United States, France and Russia. As a result, many international sanctions on Syria have been lifted to help the country rebuild after a bloody 14-year civil war. &#39;Wealth of human resources&#39; Earlier, Sharaa told a foreign ministry forum in Berlin that Syria had experienced a &quot;huge amount of destruction&quot; during its long conflict, saying that Syrians &quot;want to catch up with the rest of the world&quot; as Germany did after World War II. He pointed to investment opportunities in Syria&#39;s energy, transport and tourism sectors, describing his homeland as very diverse and with &quot;a great wealth of human resources&quot;. Merz said Germany wanted to &quot;support&quot; reconstruction in Syria as it struggles to rebuild after a long and bloody civil war, adding that a German government delegation would travel to the Middle Eastern country in the next few days. However, Merz also said that he had stressed to Sharaa in their meeting &quot;that many joint projects in the future will depend on our finding a state governed by the rule of law&quot;. Rights campaigners have criticized Sharaa&#39;s Germany visit, pointing to his militant&nbsp;past and ongoing violence and instability in Syria. Protesters gathered in front of the foreign ministry on Monday waving Kurdish flags and placards, highlighting Sharaa&#39;s time as a&nbsp;militant. Near the chancellery, dozens of Syrians also turned out to welcome Sharaa, waving Syria&#39;s new revolutionary flag and a banner showing the president surrounded by hearts. The German Green party&#39;s foreign affairs spokeswoman Luise Amtsberg told AFP Germany should not engage in a &quot;premature normalization&quot; with Sharaa&#39;s government. Merz had reduced Syria policy to the question of returns &quot;and is ignoring the situation on the ground&quot;, she said. &#39;Authoritarian tendencies&#39; Since Sharaa has been in power, sectarian tensions have continued to cause repeated bloodshed in Syria, while the ISIS&nbsp;group remains at large. After Assad&#39;s overthrow, Israel moved its forces into the UN-patrolled demilitarized zone on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, and has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria as well as regular incursions. Sharaa was initially planning to visit Germany in January, but the trip was postponed as he sought to end fighting between government troops and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in his country&#39;s north. KGD, a group that represents the Kurdish community in Germany, has said that Sharaa &quot;bears responsibility for numerous human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity&quot;. Sophie Bischoff, president of the German-Syrian NGO Adopt A Revolution, told reporters that any support from the German government &quot;must be linked to clear conditions&quot; and warned that &quot;authoritarian tendencies are on the rise again in Syria&quot;.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (L) welcomes Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the Chancellery in Berlin on March 30, 2026. (AFP)

Middle East

Europe

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, on a Berlin visit, pledged cooperation with Germany to enable refugee returns and reconstruction, while critics warned against normalization of relations amid ongoing violence, instability and rights concerns within Syria.

Syrian leader pledges to work with Germany on migration, recovery

LONDON: A man in his 40&#39;s was arrested in southern England over an alleged cyberattack that disrupted several European airports in recent days, including at London Heathrow, law enforcement officials said Wednesday. The United Kingdom National Crime Agency said the suspect was held in West Sussex on Tuesday on suspicion of offenses involving the misuse of computers and was released on conditional bail.&nbsp;&ldquo;Although this arrest is a positive step, the investigation into this incident is in its early stages and remains ongoing,&quot; said Paul Foster, head of the NCA&rsquo;s national cybercrime unit. &ldquo;Cybercrime is a persistent global threat that continues to cause significant disruption to the UK&quot;&nbsp;Starting late Friday and lasting through the weekend, airports in Berlin, Brussels and London were hit by disruptions to electronic systems that snarled up check-in and sent airline staffers trying options like handwriting boarding passes or using backup laptops. Many other European airports were unaffected.&nbsp;The cyberattack affected the software of Collins Aerospace, whose systems help passengers check in, print boarding passes and bag tags, and dispatch their luggage.&nbsp;The US-based company on Saturday cited a &ldquo;cyber-related disruption&rdquo; to its software at &quot;select&rdquo; airports in Europe.&nbsp;It was not immediately clear who might be behind the cyberattack, but experts said it could turn out to be hackers, criminal organizations or state actors.&nbsp;The European Commission, the executive branch of the 27-nation European Union, said aviation safety and air traffic control were unaffected.

UK authorities arrested a man in West Sussex after a cyberattack disrupted airports in London, Berlin and Brussels. The attack, linked to Collins Aerospace software, caused widespread check-in chaos, though aviation safety remained unaffected, officials confirmed.

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Syrian leader pledges to work with Germany on migration, recovery

Man arrested in UK over alleged cyberattack that affected European airports