One year after Al-Assad’s fall, Syrian returns reach historic levels
Shafaq News – Damascus
More than three million displaced Syrians have returned home, one year after the fall of Bashar Al-Assad’s government, marking the largest wave of voluntary returns since the start of the conflict, the United Nations stated on Monday.
In a statement, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said more than 1.2 million refugees have returned from neighboring countries since December 8, 2024, while an additional 1.9 million internally displaced people have gone back to their areas of origin.
About 4.5 million Syrian refugees remain in nearby countries, most living below the poverty line.
UN High Commissioner Filippo Grandi called the moment “a once in a generation opportunity to close one of the world’s worst humanitarian chapters,” but warned that without urgent international support, “this window of hope may close.”
UNHCR said it has expanded voluntary return assistance across the region since January 2025, providing transportation, cash support, and help with civil documentation. The agency emphasized that all returns must remain voluntary, noting that security conditions in several areas of Syria remain unstable and that many neighborhoods still lack basic services such as electricity, clean water, and health care.
Livelihood opportunities remain limited, however, and many returnees lack the civil documents required to reclaim property or access services. Unexploded ordnance also continues to pose a major danger, killing 577 people since January.
Despite the uptick in returns, UNHCR said funding remains critically low; its $1.5 billion appeal for the Syria response in 2025 is only 33 percent funded, leaving millions of Syrians — inside the country and in neighboring states — at risk of losing shelter support, winter assistance, and other basic services.
