Filippo Grandi (centre left) visits a health centre at the Djedeidet Yabus border crossing between Lebanon and Syria. UN calls for support for Syrians returning Humanitarian aid
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has completed his visit to Syria. He called on the international community to help Syrians return home and rebuild their country.
Since September 2024, more than half a million refugees have returned to Syria, 200,000 of them since the fall of the Assad regime. Almost 600,000 internally displaced people who found refuge in Syria itself have also returned to their homes. However, 7.4 million Syrians remain internally displaced, and more than 6 million Syrian refugees are abroad.
“We must seize this moment to help the country emerge from an era of crisis and bloodshed,” Grandi said. “Many families are taking the courageous step of returning home, seeking a better future, but they face enormous challenges: destroyed and damaged homes, destroyed infrastructure, and widespread poverty.”
In Damascus, Grandi met with representatives of the interim authorities, including the country’s leader Ahmed al-Sharaa. The main topic of the talks was support for returning Syrians.
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During his visit, Grandi also spoke with returning Syrians at border crossings and in Aleppo. Displaced and refugee families told him about the difficulties they were facing.
The High Commissioner stressed that a comprehensive approach was needed to provide them with adequate support. This included investing in jobs, health care, schools and rebuilding infrastructure, including water and electricity.
The Syrians themselves say that the main conditions for their return will be an improved security situation and political stability. A recent poll found that 27 percent of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and Iraq plan to return to Syria within the next year, up from just 2 percent just weeks ago, before the fall of the Assad regime.
The UN Refugee Agency and its partners are stepping up humanitarian assistance in Syria, providing people with transportation, legal support, help repairing homes and distributing essential items.
Grandi called on international donors to support efforts to provide emergency aid to Syrians and the country’s long-term reconstruction.