Syrian refugees return from Turkey. More than 58,000 refugees have returned to Syria since the fall of Assad Refugees and migrants
Since December 8, when Bashar al-Assad’s regime fell, 58,400 people have returned to Syria. The recent refugees come mainly from neighboring countries such as Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said on Tuesday.
According to UNHCR, as of 29 December, a total of 419,200 refugees have returned to Syria since the beginning of the year; 26 per cent of these are men, 28 per cent women and 46 per cent children. The majority of them have arrived in Raqqa, Aleppo and Daraa. UNHCR has maintained a presence at the main official border crossings with neighbouring countries, including three with Lebanon and one with Jordan. UNHCR teams continue to monitor the situation at the border and population movements into and out of Syria. They engage with Syrian returnees and provide them with immediate protection assistance where needed. UNHCR intends to increase its presence at active border crossings as the evolving security situation allows. According to the UN, localised fighting continues across Syria, with incidents affecting the provinces of Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor, Hama, Homs, Lattakia, Quneitra, rural Damascus and Tartus over the past week, resulting in civilian casualties. In north-east Syria, some 25,000 internally displaced people are being held in more than 180 collective centres, reportedly lacking clean water and sanitation supplies. The World Health Organization is coordinating a European Union humanitarian airlift that has already delivered 50 tonnes of life-saving supplies, including trauma kits and essential medicines, to health facilities in north-west Syria.