Over 2 million Syrians return home since Assad's ouster: UN
More than two million Syrian refugees and internally displaced persons have returned to their homes since December, marking a turning point in Syria’s years-long crisis, according to UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.
"Over two million Syrian refugees and displaced have returned home since December—a sign of hope amid rising regional tensions," Grandi wrote Thursday on X, as he traveled from Lebanon to Syria on the occasion of World Refugee Day.
I am in Lebanon, heading to Syria for #WorldRefugeeDay.
— Filippo Grandi (@FilippoGrandi) June 19, 2025
Over two million Syrian refugees and displaced have returned home since December—a sign of hope amid rising regional tensions.
This proves that we need political solutions—not another wave of instability and displacement.
Grandi emphasized the importance of achieving a lasting political resolution to the Syrian conflict. “This proves that we need political solutions—not another wave of instability and displacement,” he said.
The surge in returns follows the December 8 ouster of longtime Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Russia after nearly 25 years in power. Assad’s departure ended the Baath Party’s decades-long rule, in place since 1963.
Ahmad al-Sharaa, a leading figure in the opposition forces that pushed out the Assad regime, was declared transitional president in late January. His leadership has ushered in cautious optimism among Syrians both inside and outside the country.
The Syrian civil war, which erupted in 2011 after Assad’s violent crackdown on peaceful protests, displaced over half the population, with millions seeking refuge in neighboring countries like Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey.
Grandi’s visit to Lebanon—a country hosting an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees—underscored the scale of the humanitarian crisis and the challenges of voluntary return.
While many returnees are hopeful, they often find their homes destroyed or uninhabitable after 14 years of war. Reconstruction remains a massive challenge, with the UN estimating the cost at more than $400 billion.
However, with the lifting of Western sanctions following the regime’s fall, Syria’s new authorities are seeking international assistance to begin rebuilding efforts.
Earlier this month, the UN refugee agency projected that up to 1.5 million Syrians living abroad and around two million internally displaced people could return by the end of 2025—a potential shift in one of the world’s largest displacement crises.
