In the two months since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has estimated that approximately 270,000 Syrians have returned home.

The figure, announced on Friday, comes in the wake of a dramatic political shift that ended Syria’s 13-year civil war.

On December 8, 2024, a coalition of rebel groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, under the leadership of Ahmed al-Sharaa, successfully toppled the Assad regime. The collapse of the long-standing government has set the stage for new authorities in Damascus to urge Syrians abroad to return, while several European nations have suspended the processing of Syrian refugee claims.

The UNHCR further noted that about 27% of Syrian refugees have expressed their intention to return home in the coming months. Among those returning are refugees registered with UNHCR, as well as Syrians coming back from neighboring countries including Türkiye, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt. Since December 8, over 5,000 Syrians have returned from Iraq, nearly 400 of whom were registered with UNHCR, and approximately 25,500 have returned from Jordan.

However, despite the encouraging return numbers, the humanitarian situation within Syria remains dire. The UNHCR reported that more than 650,000 Syrians have become newly internally displaced since hostilities escalated in late November 2024, adding to the total of over 7.4 million internally displaced persons across the country.

Amid these developments, a military offensive by Turkish-backed Syrian militias in the north has forced thousands of Kurdish families from their homes, further complicating the already complex displacement crisis.

The return of hundreds of thousands of refugees marks a significant moment in Syria’s post-war recovery, yet the continuing internal displacement and regional instability underscore the ongoing challenges facing the country as it attempts to rebuild after years of conflict. (ILKHA)