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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Throngs of Syrian refugees start returning from Turkey, Lebanon after Assad’s fall |
| 2024-12-10 |
| [IsraelTimes] People express joy over end of brutal regime, as Turkish officials hope many will return home; Germany and Austria suspend Syrian asylum requests Hundreds of Syrian refugees gathered at two border crossings in southern Turkey on Monday, eagerly anticipating their return home following the fall of President Bashar Assad’s government. Footage shared online purported to show thousands driving toward the border and into Syria to return to their homes. Many arrived at the Cilvegozu and Oncupinar border gates at daybreak, draped in blankets and coats. Some camped by the barriers of the border crossing, warming themselves with makeshift fires or resting on the cold ground. The border crossings correspond to the Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salameh gates on the Syrian side of the border. Among those waiting at Cilvegozu was 28-year-old Muhammed Zin, who voiced excitement at the prospect of returning to his homeland. He fled Damascus in 2016 and has been living and working in Istanbul. “Assad was shooting us, killing us,” he told the Associated Press. “I will return to Syria now. Thank God, the war is over,” he said. Seer Ali, 18, who left Damascus six years ago, had been working in the nearby city of Gaziantep to support his mother and siblings back home. “We are very happy, very happy. Not just me, but everyone, all of us Syrians here are very happy,” he said. “Everyone will return; no one will stay here. They will all go to their families.” Turkish officials have not said how many Syrians have returned since Assad’s downfall. Authorities set up a checkpoint some five kilometers (3 miles) from Cilvegozu, only allowing Syrians with adequate documentation to advance to the border gate, HaberTurk television reported. Assad’s fall has sparked widespread joy among Turkey’s 3 million Syrian refugees, with many taking to the streets of Istanbul and other cities to celebrate. On Sunday, Syrians also removed the Syrian government’s flag from the Syrian Consulate in Istanbul, replacing it with the opposition’s flag. Turkey welcomed Syrian refugees with open arms in the early years of the Syrian civil war that broke out in 2011 — becoming host to the largest number of refugees in the world. Ankara believed that the conflict would end quickly and the refugee influx would be temporary. But as Turkey faced economic challenges, public opinion toward the refugees soured, forcing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government to seek ways to ensure their safe and voluntary repatriation. Turkish officials now hope that a significant number of Syrians will return voluntarily. “We will continue our efforts to ensure the safe and voluntary return of Syrians and to rebuild the country,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Monday. Hundreds of displaced Syrians were also returning Monday to Syria from Lebanon, with dozens of cars lining up to enter. The day before, Lebanese residents had handed out congratulatory sweets to Syrians waiting to go back to their country. Sami Abdel-Latif, a construction worker and refugee from Hama who was heading to Syria to join his wife and four children, said while the future in Syria is still uncertain, “anything is better than Bashar.” He said he expected some chaos initially but that eventually the situation would settle down. “Look at Aleppo now,” Abdel-Latif said, referring to the first major city taken over by opposition forces more than a week ago, where life has continued more or less as normal. He said he is also hoping that there will now be plenty of work in Syria to rebuild. Malak Matar, who was preparing to return to Damascus, said: “This is a feeling we’ve been waiting 14 years for.” “You feel yourself psychologically free — you can express yourself,” he said. “The country is free, and the barriers have been broken down.” Now, he said, “Syrians have to create a state that is well organized and takes care of their country. It’s a new phase.” A HALT TO ASYLUM REQUESTS Germany and Austria, which took in some one million and 100,000 Syrians respectively, have suspended their decisions on asylum requests amid the developments. German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that “the end of the brutal tyranny of the Syrian dictator Assad is a great relief for many people who have suffered from torture, murder, and terror.” “Many refugees who have found protection in Germany now finally have hope of returning to their Syrian homeland and rebuilding their country,” she added. But she cautioned that “the situation in Syria is currently very unclear.” “Therefore, concrete possibilities of return cannot yet be predicted at the moment, and it would be unprofessional to speculate about them in such a volatile situation. “In view of this unclear situation, it is right that the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees has today imposed a freeze on decisions for asylum procedures that are still ongoing until the situation is clearer,” she said. The interior ministry says there are now 974,136 people with Syrian nationality residing in Germany. Of these, 5,090 have been recognized as eligible for asylum, 321,444 have been granted refugee status and 329,242 have been granted subsidiary protection, a temporary stay of deportation, with tens of thousands of other cases still pending. German foreign ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer on Monday highlighted the changing events and ongoing fighting in Syria. “The fact that the Assad regime has been ended is unfortunately no guarantee of peaceful development,” he told a regular media briefing. “Whether this new situation will result in new refugee movements or whether, on the contrary, if the situation stabilizes, displaced persons and refugees will have the opportunity to return to their homeland in the long term, remains to be seen,” Fischer said. Meanwhile, Austria’s Conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer on Monday instructed his interior ministry “to suspend all ongoing Syrian asylum applications and to review all asylum grants,” the ministry said in a statement. “From now on, open [asylum] proceedings of Syrian citizens will be stopped,” a statement said. Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner added he has “instructed the ministry to prepare an orderly repatriation and deportation program to Syria.” Family reunification — allowing Syrians in Austria to bring relatives to the country — will also be suspended, the statement added. “The political situation in Syria has changed fundamentally and, above all, rapidly in recent days,” the ministry said, adding it is “currently monitoring and analyzing the new situation.” “It is essential to reassess the situation, which is necessary for further processing of the cases,” the ministry added. Around 7,300 Syrians whose asylum applications are in the first stage of consideration “are affected” by the suspension, the ministry said. Since 2015, some 87,000 Syrians have been given asylum. Austria’s anti-migration far right topped national elections in September, though they have been unable to find partners to govern, leaving the runner-up conservatives trying to form a new government. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |