The United Nations estimated in a report this week that half a million refugees have returned to Syria since the fall of dictator Bashar Assad, with another million expected to follow by the end of this year.
Over 6 million people fled Syria during the brutal civil war that began in 2011, creating one of the world’s largest refugee crises.
According to Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, chief of the U.N. refugee mission for Syria, a “strong” sense of optimism over the “historic” political changes in Syria is bringing a growing number of refugees home.
Vargas Llosa pointed to a recent survey conducted by the U.N. High Commission for Refugees in Syria that found 80 percent of Syrians living abroad are now thinking about returning home. He noted some formidable obstacles to returning still remain, including damage from the civil war that has yet to be repaired.
To that end, Vargas Llosa was pleased that President Donald Trump has decided to lift sanctions on Syria to speed the rebuilding effort.
Sanctions relief for Syria was heavily promoted by Turkey, which houses the largest population of external Syrian refugees. Turkey was not subtle about suggesting Syrians should consider returning home after dictator Bashar Assad was overthrown. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was among the first world leaders to embrace the post-Assad government in Damascus, headed by former al Qaeda officer Ahmed al-Sharaa.
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According to the IOM, roughly 1.87 million Syrians have returned to their homes since the fall of Assad, including both 1.3 million internally-displaced persons (IDPs) and 730,000 refugees from abroad. Most of the returnees from other countries have come from the nations closest to Syria, including Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Egypt.
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