ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Jordanian government on Thursday said around 18,000 Syrians have crossed into Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
“Around 18,000 Syrians have returned to their country between the fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad on December 8, 2024, until Thursday,” Jordanian state TV channel Al-Mamlaka quoted the country’s minister of the interior Mazen al-Faraya, as saying.
According to Faraya, the returnees included 2,300 refugees registered by the United Nations.
Jordan says it hosts 1.3 million Syrians who fled the country since 2011, with 650,000 registered with the UN.
An 11-day sweeping rebel offensive spearheaded by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, brought a five-decade-long rule of the Assad family to an end on December 8.
The UN migration agency (IOM) last week advised against any “large-scale” return of Syrian refugees back to the country until greater stability is achieved.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Monday said that Amman stands with Syria during the transitional phase, expressing his country’s willingness to support the new Syrian administration’s efforts in the reconstruction of the war-torn country, following a meeting with the country’s de facto ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa.
“We agree [with Arab nations] to support the Syrian people in rebuilding their state,” Safadi told reporters in Damascus. “We support the transitional process in Syria and the drafting of a new constitution for the country.”
Syria’s new authorities have repeatedly called on the international community to help lift sanctions in a bid to rebuild the country and pave the way for the return of millions of Syria from across the world back to the country.
Over three million Syrian refugees currently live in Turkey, the most Syrian refugees in the world.
In a meeting with Sharaa in Damascus earlier this week, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called on the international community to lift sanctions on Syria “as soon as possible."
"The international community needs to mobilize to help Syria get back on its feet and for the displaced people to return,” Fidan said.
Since Assad’s ouster on December 8, more than 25,000 Syrians have returned to their country from Turkey, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on Tuesday.
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