A large-scale return of refugees to Syria could overwhelm the country and even fuel conflict after the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad, the head of the UN migration agency said.
The UN refugee agency estimates that one million people will return to Syria in the first six months of 2025. Some European countries have already frozen asylum applications for Syrians.
“We believe that millions of people returning would trigger conflicts within an already fragile society,” Amy Pope, director-general of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), told a news briefing in Geneva after a trip to Syria.
“We are not promoting large-scale returns. Communities, frankly, are simply not ready to accept people who have been displaced,” she said, calling for donor support to help stabilize and rebuild the country.
Pope said she was calling on governments to “slow down any plans to send people back.”
She said some communities could still flee because of uncertainty about life under the new government, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, which once had ties to al-Qaeda.
“We have heard from communities, such as the Christian community, that have not yet left, but they are very concerned about the next few months and want to make sure they are not targeted,” Pope said.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on December 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending decades of his family rule.
The United States, other Western powers and many Syrians have welcomed Assad’s fall, but it is unclear whether HTS will impose strict Islamic rule or show flexibility.
There is widespread fear among Syrians that the new administration will gravitate toward hardline religious rule, marginalizing minority communities and excluding women from public life.
Top US diplomats are expected to hold Washington’s first in-person official meetings with Syria’s new de facto rulers led by HTS in Damascus on December 20, hoping to assess how the former al-Qaeda affiliate plans to govern the country, Reuters reports.
