German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announced a tough response to Syrian refugees who leave Germany for holidays in their home country.

"If somebody, a Syrian refugee, regularly takes holidays in Syria, he cannot honestly claim to be persecuted in Syria," Seehofer told Bild am Sonntag weekly.

"We would have to strip him of his refugee status," he added.

As soon as German officials learn of such trips, they will launch a probe into the migrants' refugee status, Seehofer added.