Half a million Syrians return home from across Middle East since fall of Assad regime

At least 700,000 expected to return from Turkey in the coming months, UN data shows

Syrians load a car with their belongings as they prepare to leave a refugee camp in Azraq, Jordan, to return to Deraa, southern Syria. AFP

More than half a million Syrians displaced across the Middle East have returned home since the downfall of former president Bashar Al Assad’s regime six months ago, the UN's refugee agency said on Thursday.

After the outbreak of the civil war in 2011, millions of Syrians were forced to flee their homes to other parts of the country or across the border in search of safety.

Those who have returned since December have mostly come from neighbouring countries, the UNHCR said in its Global Trends 2024 report. At least six million Syrians have sought refuge in Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt over the past decade.

The report said “a similar trend is observed among internally displaced Syrians. In total, an estimated 1.3 million Syrians have returned to their areas of origin since late November 2024".

Since the overthrow of the Assad regime in December, a large number of Syrians living in neighbouring countries are willing to return home, a stark increase compared with when Mr Al Assad was in power. It is estimated that 1.5 million displaced Syrians are expected to return to their home towns by the end of 2025, according to the report.

Aref Shamtan, 73, looks out of a window in his destroyed house, in the village of Al Hawash, in Syria's Hama province. AFP

Nearly 700,000 will return by the end of this year from Turkey, which is hosting 3.2 million Syrians – more than any other country. Another 400,000 are expected to return from Lebanon, along with 200,000 from Jordan and 25,000 from Egypt, the report said in its yearly forecast.

Lebanon is the country hosting the second-largest number of Syrian refugees, with about 774,000 registered. When unregistered people are included, the total rises to an estimated 1.5 million.

The UNHCR has previously reported that, as of 2024, at least 7.4 million Syrians remain internally displaced, with about 4.9 million seeking refuge in neighbouring countries. An additional 1.3 million have resettled elsewhere, mostly in Europe.

Global displacement

By the end of 2024, about 123.2 million people around the world had been forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence and human rights breaches, a number described as "a record high".

"The total of 123.2 million by the end of 2024 marks an increase of seven million people [6 per cent] compared to the end of 2023, and more than double the number from a decade ago," the report said.

However, the total number of people forcibly displaced around the world had fallen slightly to 122.1 million by the end of April 2025. The Middle East and North Africa has seen an increase in displacements, while global numbers showed a slight decline.

"Over one third of the world’s forcibly displaced were from Sudan [14.3 million], Syria [13.5 million], Afghanistan [10.3 million] and Ukraine [8.8 million]," the report added.