German and Austrian ministers cancel Syria trip because of possible terrorist threat

The two ministers had planned to speak with the interior and foreign ministers of Syria’s interim government and with representatives of UN agencies.

The German and Austrian interior ministers have cancelled a planned trip to Syria because of a possible threat to their delegation, German authorities said.

Germany’s Nancy Faeser had planned to visit Damascus with her Austrian counterpart Gerhard Karner on Thursday, with a German military plane set to fly Faeser’s delegation into Syria from Jordan.

But her ministry said that the two ministers decided to break off the trip before the flight could depart from Amman “because of concrete warnings by German security authorities of a terrorist threat”.

It added in an emailed statement that a threat to the delegation itself couldn’t be ruled out and that it would have been irresponsible to go.

Read more: Euronews