Significant number of Syrians returned from Lebanon and Turkey in 2025

BEIRUT — The return of Syrian refugees from neighboring countries to their homeland has accelerated significantly since the beginning of 2025, a scene observers mark as the start of a new phase after more than 13-year of crisis in Syria. Deputy UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Kelly Clements announced that more than 168,000 Syrian refugees have returned from Lebanon to Syria since the start of 2025. Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya revealed that over 450,000 refugees have returned from Turkey during the same period. 

During her recent visit to Beirut, Clements met with senior officials, including the Director General of General Security Major General Hassan Shuker, Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Metri and Minister of Social Affairs Haneen al-Sayyed. Clements praised the “close cooperation” between the Lebanese authorities and the UNHCR, pointing to Beirut’s pivotal role in facilitating the safe return of refugees. Clements stated that the UN is committed to working with the Lebanese government, as well as with local and international partners to ensure that returns are voluntary and dignified. She emphasized that this dossier would remain a priority in the coming period. She also indicated that the UNHCR is working on new follow-up initiatives aimed at sustaining humanitarian and logistical support for returnees, including securing essential services in Syrian villages and towns witnessing an increasing number of returns. 

It is estimated that some 1.5 million, registered and unregistered, Syrian refugees remain in Lebanon. Christian leaders in Lebanon have repeatedly warned that the refugee burden is too great for a small country like Lebanon and that this threatens the delicate balance. 

Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, stressed that Turkey is facilitating the return of refugees in a voluntary and orderly manner, confirming that since the liberation of Syria in December 2024, so far, more than 450,169 Syrians have returned to their homeland. He added, via the X-platform, that Turkey has stood alongside its Syrian brothers who fled the oppression of the Assad regime since 2011. 

According to statistics from the Turkish Ministry of Interior, a total of 1,190,000 Syrians have returned from Turkey to Syria over the past years, while approximately 2.5 million remain registered under temporary protection within Turkish territory as of August 2025.  

However, Turkey’s policies have sparked widespread controversy. Turkey has been repeatedly accused of resettling Arab Syrian families in northern Syria at the expense of the original residents, displaced due to repeated Turkish military operations inside Syria since 2016. These accusations, which the Turkish government denies, raise fears of potential demographic changes that could complicate long-term stabilization efforts. 

After the takeover of power in December 2024, the new Syrian government under President Ahmad al-Sharaa quickly called on Syrians abroad to return, while several European countries, including Denmark and Austria, stopped accepting new asylum applications from Syrians, arguing that conditions had “become favorable for return.” Nevertheless, difficult questions remain about the new authorities’ ability to ensure real stability and essential services for returnees, especially in areas that witnessed widespread destruction and mass displacement. 

The voluntary return, whether from Lebanon or Turkey, reflects a desire among large groups of Syrians to turn the page on displacement. However, human rights organizations have warned that guaranteeing a “dignified return” requires more than logistical measures: families need habitable housing, schools for their children, job opportunities and security guarantees to prevent a recurrence of the cycle of arrests and displacement. 

Between the UN figures and Turkish statements, it appears that 2025 may constitute a turning point in the Syrian refugee dossier. But while the pace accelerates at the borders, a fundamental question remains: Does the Syrian interior, after years of war and division, have the capacity to absorb this large influx and ensure that return is a new beginning, and not merely another round of suffering?