UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said yesterday that more than two million Syrian refugees and internally displaced people have returned to their homes since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's government last December, the Associated Press reported, BTA reported.
During his visit to Damascus, which coincided with World Refugee Day, Grandi described the situation in Syria as "fragile and full of hope" and warned that returnees may not stay if Syria does not receive more international aid to rebuild its war-torn infrastructure.
The Syrian civil war has lasted nearly 14 years, during which nearly half a million people have lost their lives, and has displaced half of the country's pre-war population of 23 million. Its end came in December last year, when former President Bashar al-Assad was toppled in a lightning offensive by rebels.
Grandi said that 600,000 Syrians had returned to the country since Assad's fall, and about 1.5 million more internally displaced people had returned to their homes during the same period.
However, the returnees were not receiving enough support, and the UN refugee agency has scaled back its programs to support Syrian refugees in neighboring countries.
"The United States has stopped all foreign aid and we, like everyone else, have been hit hard; other donors in Europe are also cutting foreign aid," Grandi said.
"I say to Europeans in particular - be careful. "Remember 2015, 2016, when food aid for Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan was limited, Syrians headed for Europe," Grandi added.
The war between Israel and Iran is further fueling the fire in a region where multiple crises are already raging. Grandi noted that millions of Afghan refugees have found refuge in Iran, and now they may be displaced again.
The UN still has no idea how many people have fled because of the Iran-Israel conflict, he said.
"We know that some Iranians have gone to neighboring countries, such as Azerbaijan or Armenia, but we have very little information. No country has requested help yet," he added.