‘Germany, EU funding terrorists in Idlib’

The German government and other EU members are funding terrorists still present in Idlib and involved in a conflict against the Syrian army, Germany's Tagesspiegel newspaper has revealed.

According to the report cited by British daily the Independent on Sunday, "no less than 37.5 million euros" has been transferred to terrorist groups in Idlib by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In total, Berlin has paid nearly 49 million euros to terrorists fighting to topple the Syrian government and facilitated the transfer of similar funds by other EU members, it added.  

Those funds included "11.3 million other sources, or 17 million euros from the European Union, for which Germany would have played an intermediary role."

According to the report, the German government does not communicate the precise list of recipients of the funds for fear of angering Russia and other sides involved in the Syria war. 

The information was revealed in an answer given by German Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Walter Lindner to a question asked by Member of European Parliament Evrim Sommer, to which Tagesspiegel was able to have access.

The report comes after German Chancellor Angelica Merkel met with Russian and Turkish leaders in Istanbul late last month to discuss a solution to the Syria conflict. 

Ankara has long backed militants seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, while Moscow is a close ally of the Syrian government in its relentless fight against foreign-backed terrorists. 

Merkel apparently rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin's call to financially contribute to Syria's reconstruction after they met outside Berlin in August.

Germany is a member of a US-led coalition which has been bombarding Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Syrian government or a UN mandate. 

ME