Germany reopens Damascus embassy

Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock officially reopened her country's embassy in war-ravaged Syria during a one-day visit to Damascus on Thursday.

Baerbock reopened the mission, which closed in 2012 amid the Syrian civil war, on her second visit there since the fall of president Bashar al-Assad over three months ago.

Her trip also came weeks after sectarian massacres claimed more than 1,500 lives on Syria's Mediterranean coast -- the heartland of Assad's Alawite minority.

"The horrific outbreaks of violence two weeks ago have caused a massive loss of trust," said Baerbock. "The targeted killing of civilians is a terrible crime."

She called on the transitional government of interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa to "control the actions of the groups within its own ranks and hold those responsible accountable".

But she stressed that "we want to support the Syrians together with our European partners and the United Nations" as they rebuild their country.

She later met with Sharaa and interim foreign minister Assaad al-Shibani, the Syrian presidency said.

Germany on Monday announced 300 million euros ($325 million) for reconstruction aid in Syria, as part of a donor conference that gathered total pledges of 5.8 billion euros.

A German foreign ministry source said Berlin had officially reopened its embassy with an initially small diplomatic team working in Damascus.

Consular affairs and visas would continue to be handled from the Lebanese capital Beirut for practical reasons and due to the security situation in Syria.

Among EU countries, the Italian embassy has already resumed operations in Damascus.

France has raised its flag on its embassy building but not yet conducted consular activities there. Spain also announced it had raised its flag over its embassy in mid-January.

The ministry source said: "Germany has a paramount interest in a stable Syria. We can better contribute to the difficult task of stabilisation on the ground.