The United Nations Calls The Return Of Large Amount Of Refugees Can Flood Syria

Illustration of Syrian refugees at the Tokyo Budapest Station, Hungary. (Wikimedia Commons/Mstyslav Chernov)

JAKARTA - The head of the UN migration agency said on Friday that a large number of refugees returning to Syria could overwhelm the country and could spark conflict after President Bashar al-Assad was ousted.

The United Nations refugee agency estimates that around 1 million people will return to Syria in the first six months of 2025. Several European countries have frozen asylum requests for Syrian citizens.

"We believe the millions of people returning will create conflict in a fragile society," said Director General of International Organizations for Migration (IOM) Amy Pope.

"We are not promoting large numbers of repatriations. The public, frankly, is not ready to absorb displaced people," he said, asking for support from donors to help stabilize and rebuild the country.

Pope further said he urged the government to "resign plans to repatriate people".

He said some communities could still flee due to uncertainty about life under the new authorities, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that once had ties to al-Qaeda.

"We've heard from communities, for example, Christian communities, who haven't left yet, but are very concerned about the next few months and want to make sure they don't become targets of attack," he explained.

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

The United States, other Western countries and many Syrian citizens welcomed Assad's fall, but it was unclear whether HTS would enforce strict Islamic rules or show flexibility.

There are widespread concerns among the Syrian people that the new government will lean towards hardline religious rules, marginalize minority communities and exclude women from public life.