Syrian refugees in Lebanon return to their country on December 9, 2024, following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient Today.)
BEIRUT — Thousands of Syrian refugees are scheduled to return from Lebanon to their home country this week as part of the first U.N.-backed program offering financial incentives for returning.
This comes as the new Syrian authorities, in power since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December, say that "all [Syrian] citizens are welcome," despite the widespread destruction in many regions and ongoing concerns about security.
'A good start'
According to Lebanese Social Affairs Minister Hanine Sayyed, each Syrian family will receive $100 upon leaving Lebanon, then $400 once they arrive in Syria. Transportation will also be provided, while border authorities have lifted crossing fees, she specified.
"I think it’s a good start. We have discussed and coordinated with our Syrian counterparts, and I believe the numbers will increase in the coming weeks," Sayyed said in an interview with Reuters. Syria's Interior Minister Ali Keda did not respond to a request for comment.
Nearly 11,000 people have already registered to return this week, while the Lebanese government is targeting "between 200,000 and 400,000 returns" by the end of the year, according to the minister.
More than six million Syrians have fled their country since the outbreak of the conflict in 2011, mainly to Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Lebanon, which hosts about 1.5 million Syrians for a population of some 4 million Lebanese, is the country with the highest number of refugees per capita in the world.
Lebanese authorities are focusing particularly on informal settlements, where nearly 200,000 refugees live. The government is also considering granting work permits in sectors such as agriculture or construction to "heads of Syrian families who remain in Lebanon if their relatives return to Syria," the minister noted.
'Many want to return but remain hesitant'
Until recently, U.N. agencies considered that Syria did not offer safe conditions for mass returns, notably due to the risk of persecution under the former Assad regime, which systematically imprisoned men who had not completed mandatory military service.
But since coming to power, the new Syrian authorities, led by an Islamist coalition, claim that all Syrians can return. A U.N. survey conducted earlier this year found that nearly 30 percent of Syrian refugees in neighboring countries now wish to return to their homeland, compared to only 2 percent under the ousted regime.
"Although the situation in Syria continues to change rapidly, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) believes that the current context creates a positive opportunity for a broader return of Syrian refugees, or at least to start considering it in a realistic and sustainable way," Ivo Freijsen, the U.N. agency’s representative in Lebanon, told Reuters.
At the end of June, the UNHCR estimated that more than 628,000 Syrians had already returned from neighboring countries since Dec. 8, 2024, including about 191,000 from Lebanon.
In recent years, pressure on Syrian refugees has intensified in Lebanon, which was hit by several months of war with Israel in 2024 and has suffered for years from a severe economic crisis, fueling mounting anti-Syrian sentiment.
An outbreak of anti-Syrian violence erupted in Lebanon last year after the murder of a local official of the Christian Lebanese Forces party, Pascal Sleiman.
But in Syria, vast areas remain destroyed, with public infrastructure in ruins — power plants, schools, water networks — and millions left homeless. According to the U.N., more than 7 million Syrians remain internally displaced in the country. "Many refugees express a desire to return but remain hesitant due to the uncertainty of short- and long-term conditions in Syria," Ivo Freijsen noted.
Despite the returns recorded this year, more than 106,000 Syrians have also arrived in Lebanon since the beginning of the year. Mostly members of the Alawite minority, the Assad family’s sect, many fled the massacres perpetrated on the Syrian coast in March, which prompted Damascus authorities to open an inquiry, the results of which are due to be released this week.
