Greece concerned by Syria's new confiscation law

Greece's Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said that a new law in Syria that could see property confiscated from refugees is of great concern for his country.

The real estate law would require refugees to return home if they want to keep their property in Syria.

Kotzias says the law makes it even more difficult for the millions of Syrians displaced out of Syria - including Greece - to return home.

In April, Syria's regime announced a new law gives Syrians one month to provide ownership deeds or face confiscation of their property.

Analysts believe the law is designed to depopulate parts of Syria that might be critical of Bashar al-Assad's regime.

They also think that properties of the refugees could be given to the regime's supporters.

Syria has been at war since 2011, when anti-government protests were brutally suppressed leading to a wider war against Assad's regime.

Kotzias spoke during a southern Balkans ministerial meeting Friday in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki.