UN: Half a Million Syrian Refugees Have Returned Home

The United Nations Refugee Agency reported on Friday, July 9, that with a relative decrease in violence in parts of Syria, approximately half a million Syrian refugees have recently returned to their homes. According to the Associated Press, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has stated that approximately 440,000 internally displaced persons and 31,000 Syrian refugees abroad have recently returned to their homes. Andrei Mahicic, spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency, noted that 'this is a significant trend,' but also pointed out that this number is 'only a small fraction' of the approximately five million Syrians who have sought refuge abroad. Mr. Mahicic explained that the majority of the returnees are from the cities of Aleppo, Homs, Damascus, and some other provinces in Syria. He added that these individuals have returned 'with a real sense of better security, or with a personal perception that the security situation has improved' to visit their homes or relatives or to settle in their own homes. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced on Friday that the 'Islamic State' group is no longer present in Aleppo province and has retreated in the face of advancing government forces in the province. This week, Stefan de Mistura, the UN envoy for Syria, told the UN Security Council that violence has recently seen a downward trend in Syria. Andrei Mahicic also emphasized on Friday that international diplomatic efforts in the Geneva and Astana meetings aimed at ending six years of violence in the country have given the Syrian people hope for improvement. He also stated that 'it is still too early' to be sure whether recent peace efforts are directly related to the increasing trend of refugee returns. Meanwhile, Kevin Kennedy, the UN regional coordinator for the Syrian crisis, emphasized that despite the new trend, the Syrian people still face 'severe hardships'; he stressed that 14 million of the 18 million Syrian population still need humanitarian assistance. He added that the situation for four and a half million Syrians living in besieged or inaccessible areas is worse than for others. In November, 975,000 Syrians lived in besieged cities, but according to UN officials, this number has now decreased to 540,000 residing in 11 besieged locations. The number of internally displaced Syrians is estimated to be about one-third of the country's population. Additionally, about five million Syrians have been forced to seek refuge in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and other countries.