Austria, Germany suspend Syrian asylum decisions citing 'unclear situation'

Germany and Austria moved on Monday to suspend processing of asylum claims from Syria following reports that President Bashar al-Assad had fled to Russia and rebels had seized Damascus, marking a potential turning point in the 13-year civil war.

The developments have prompted different responses from the two neighboring countries, which both took in significant numbers of Syrian refugees during the 2015-2016 migration crisis.

The civil war forced millions of Syrians to flee the country. They were a large proportion of the more than a million people who their way to Germany and neighboring Austria during the European migration crisis of 2015 and 2016.

Austria halts asylum applications

Austria's caretaker government said on Monday it had ordered a halt to the processing of asylum applications by Syrians as public backlash against that influx continues to fuel support for Austria's far right and conservatives.

"Chancellor Karl Nehammer today instructed Interior Minister Gerhard Karner to suspend all current Syrian asylum applications and to review all cases in which asylum was granted," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said it was also suspending family reunification, under which refugees' families can join them. Syrians are the biggest group of asylum applicants in Austria by far, with 12,871 applications to date this year as of November.

Nehammer and Karner are from the conservative People's Party (OVP), which has made a hard line on immigration similar to the far-right Freedom Party's one of its hallmarks.

Many voters, however, feel it was still unfair of President Alexander Van der Bellen not to formally task the FPO with forming a government.

Germany follows suit

Germany has also suspended decisions on asylum requests from Syrians amid the "unclear situation" in the war-torn country after the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad, the interior minister said Monday.

Germany took in almost one million Syrians, Europe's biggest diaspora from the war-ravaged country, with the bulk arriving in 2015-16 under ex-chancellor Angela Merkel.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that "the end of the brutal tyranny of the Syrian dictator Assad is a great relief for many people who have suffered from torture, murder and terror".

"Many refugees who have found protection in Germany now finally have hope of returning to their Syrian homeland and rebuilding their country," she said in a statement.

But she cautioned that "the situation in Syria is currently very unclear".

Not yet speculating on return

"Therefore, concrete possibilities of return cannot yet be predicted at the moment and it would be unprofessional to speculate about them in such a volatile situation."

"In view of this unclear situation, it is right that the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees has today imposed a freeze on decisions for asylum procedures that are still ongoing until the situation is clearer," she said.

The interior ministry says there are now 974,136 people with Syrian nationality residing in Germany.

Of these, 5,090 have been recognized as eligible for asylum, 321,444 have been granted refugee status and 329,242 have been granted subsidiary protection, a temporary stay of deportation, with tens of thousands of other cases still pending.

Foreign ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer on Monday highlighted the changing events and ongoing fighting in Syria.

"The fact that the Assad regime has been ended is unfortunately no guarantee of peaceful development," he told a regular media briefing.

"Whether this new situation will result in new refugee movements or whether, on the contrary, if the situation stabilizes, displaced persons and refugees will have the opportunity to return to their homeland in the long term, remains to be seen," Fischer said.