Million Syrians return home, including 280,000 refugees

More than a million people have returned to their homes in Syria after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad.

A picture of toppled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad lies abandoned in a Damascus street. Picture: AFP

More than a million people have returned to their homes in Syria after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, including 280,000 refugees who came back from abroad, the UN said on Tuesday.

Assad was toppled in December in a rebel offensive, putting an end to his family’s decades-long grip on power and bookmarking a civil war that broke out in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

Syria’s war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions from their homes.

The Islamist-led rebels whose offensive ousted Assad have sought to assure the international community that they have broken with their past and will respect the rights of minorities.

“Since the fall of the regime in Syria we estimate that 280,000 Syrian refugees and more than 800,000 people displaced inside the country have returned to their homes,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said.

“Early recovery efforts must be bolder and faster, though, otherwise people will leave again: this is now urgent.”

At a meeting in Paris last week, 20 countries, including Arab nations, Turkey, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Japan, pledged support for Syria’s new authorities in the fight against “all forms of terrorism and extremism”.

AFP