Germany to spend 10 mln euros to help clear mines in Syria

Germany will spend an initial 10 million euros to help remove mines from the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, the Handelsblatt newspaper said in Friday editions.

The foreign ministry is set to announce the increased funding as part of a pact with the United States on Friday, the paper added.

The agreement calls for Germany to help fund Tetra Tech , a U.S. government contractor working to clear mines from Raqqa, where U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) last month declared victory over the Daesh terrorist group.

The Democratic Union Party (PYD), the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), was among the U.S.-backed SDF to take Raqqa from Daesh. The U.S. has supported the SDF, which consists of the PKK/PYD and other groups, in fighting Daesh in Syria but has largely ignored its links to the PKK. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.

The U.S. military continues to press Germany for additional aid in Syria, but Germany is waiting for measures on how to stabilise Syria, the newspaper said.

Norbert Roettgen, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, told the paper that financial aid for rebuilding must be "combined with a reliable solution and political stability for Syria".

The paper said the German contribution to the effort to de-mine Raqqa could be stepped up if the situation stabilised.