After half a century of the Assad regime.

After 14 years of civil war – after 400,000 lives lost.

Now, at last, there is a new hope for the people of Syria.

You can feel it on the streets of Damascus.

The tens of thousands gathering in front of the Umayyad Mosque.

The women and men sitting in ice cream parlours.

You can also see it in the faces of Syrians working at German hospitals or bakeries. Speaking with tears in their eyes now that they can finally see their loved ones in Syria again – after 14 years. Because now it’s possible to go and visit.

And yet it is a cautious hope, because many wounds of the past remain. We still see the bloodstains on the floors of the Saydnaya prison, we see and feel the fear of revenge, of impunity and renewed violence that is still present.

Just days ago, on the weekend of 7 March, hundreds of people were killed in Syria’s coastal regions. The reports of unlawful executions of civilians are horrific. The transition government has a responsibility to prevent further atrocities and to hold those who committed these terrible crimes to account.

We all have to stand together now against new atrocities.

And we need to show a clear commitment to fight Daesh together.

Germany will pledge 300 million euro for the future of Syria – for the people of Syria, for humanitarian assistance, for food, for water, for medicine, for education, for transitional justice.

Because we all know that the future can only be built if all the people of Syria can participate, no matter their gender, their religion or their ethnic background.