ISLAMABAD: More than a million Syrians have returned home over the past year, but millions remain displaced within the country, according to a new United Nations report.
Over 1.2 million Syrians crossed back into Syria from abroad since December 8, 2024, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reported. Most returnees came from Turkey, followed by Lebanon and Jordan, with smaller numbers arriving from Iraq, Egypt and beyond the region.
While more than 1.9 million internally displaced people have returned to their home areas or intended destinations within the country, including over one million who left camps and collective sites in the north, around seven million people remain displaced inside the country.
UNHCR data show that return movements are taking place across multiple governorates, including Aleppo, Homs, Damascus and Hama. Meanwhile internal returns are concentrated in northern Syria. The report said the figures reflect continuing population shifts more than a decade after the start of the conflict.
The number of people returning from neighboring countries is also continually rising. Turkey’s interior minister reported that 550,000 Syrians have returned since December 2024, bringing total voluntary returns from Turkey to 1.29 million since 2016.
From Lebanon, an estimated 362,027 Syrians have gone back, and from Jordan, about 167,000 refugees registered with UNHCR have returned since December 2024. Smaller numbers have also returned from Iraq and Egypt.
The report said the total number of Syrians who have returned either from abroad or from internal displacement since December 2024 exceeds three million, even as millions remain uprooted throughout the country.
