Large-scale refugee returns could overwhelm Syria, IOM chief says

Large-scale returns of refugees to Syria could overwhelm the country and even stoke conflict following the toppling of President Bashar Al-Assad, the head of the UN migration agency said today, according to Reuters.

The UN refugee agency has estimated 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 create conflict within an already fragile society,” Amy Pope, director-general of the International Organisation for Migration, told a Geneva press briefing after a trip to Syria.

“We are not promoting large-scale returns. The communities, frankly, are just not ready to absorb the people who are displaced,” she said, calling for support from donors to help stabilise and rebuild the country.

Pope said she was urging governments to “slow down on any plans to send people back.”

She said some communities could yet flee because of uncertainties about life under the new authorities, led by the Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham group which once had ties to Al-Qaeda.

“We heard from communities, for example, the Christian community, who hasn’t yet left, but are very much worried about the next several months and want to make sure that they don’t become the targets of attack,” Pope said.

Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on 8 December, forcing Al-Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.

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