Turkey reports 550,000 Syrians have repatriated since Assad’s downfall

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024, more than 550,000 Syrian refugees have returned from Turkey to Syria, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on Saturday.

This marks a significant turning point in Syria’s post-war trajectory and in Turkey's longstanding role as a host for the world’s largest Syrian refugee population. 

At the height of the Syrian conflict, over 3.5 million Syrians had sought refuge in Turkey. That number now stands at approximately 2.4 million, according to Turkish authorities.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported Friday that 1.16 million Syrians have returned to their homeland since December 8, 2024, the date widely recognized as the end of the civil war. 

The agency also noted that over 1.9 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) have managed to return to their hometowns.

Despite these large-scale returns, challenges remain. More than seven million Syrians are still displaced within Syria’s borders, and approximately 4.5 million remain refugees abroad, according to UNHCR estimates.

The Syrian civil war, which began in 2011 following the violent crackdown of peaceful protests by former President Bashar al-Assad, led to one of the world’s worst refugee crises. The conflict claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and forced millions to flee.

The war officially came to an end in December 2024, when a coalition of Islamist forces led by Ahmad al-Chareh took control of Damascus and formed a new transitional government. 

While the international community remains divided over recognition of the new leadership, the situation on the ground has drastically shifted, ushering in a fragile period of reconstruction and repatriation.

Analysts caution that long-term stability in Syria will depend on inclusive governance, economic rebuilding, and the reintegration of returnees — many of whom return to devastated infrastructure and uncertain security conditions.