On Thursday, the Syrian government opened a new consulate general in Bonn. According to the embassy of the Arab Republic, Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al‑Sheibani will open the consulate in the afternoon of February 12.
The idea of a foreign diplomatic representation in Bonn has been brewing for a while. In January, the “General‑Anzeiger Bonn” reported that the Syrian government had made an informal inquiry to the city about whether the former embassy building on Andreas‑Hermes‑Straße could be used as a consulate.
The new consulate is expected to relieve the heavily burdened embassy in Berlin. After the end of the civil war in 2024, hundreds of Syrians were coming daily to the Berlin embassy, largely to obtain passports, according to an employee. With the Bonn consulate now operational, many Syrians in and around the city have a nearby point of contact. Bonn is a major hub for war refugees, with nearly 10 000 Syrian citizens living there in 2022. Across North Rhine‑Westphalia, 288 000 Syrians resided in 2024.
In the aftermath of the regime change on December 8, 2024, Syria has recently reshuffled its diplomatic mission in Berlin. Early this month, the top position at the Berlin embassy was transferred to Baraa Shukri, who had previously served as director of the consular and foreign affairs department at the Syrian Foreign Ministry. He succeeded Abdulkareem Khawande, who had been the acting head of mission during the Ba Sair Al‑Assad era.
Unlike an embassy, which primarily manages political relations with the host country, a consulate general is a subordinate office that mainly handles the services for the home country’s citizens and visa matters. The Syrian embassy in Berlin had been closed for several years following the outbreak of the civil war in 2011 and only resumed operations in 2020 under a chargé d’affaires. Consequently, it continued to refrain from maintaining full diplomatic relations with Germany.
