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- 鈥淪ince 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,鈥� Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
GENEVA: More than one million people have returned to their homes in Syria after the overthrow of Bashar 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鈥檚 decades-long grip on power in the Middle Eastern country and bookmarking a civil war that broke out in 2011, with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
Syria鈥檚 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.
鈥淪ince 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,鈥� Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, wrote on the X social media platform.
鈥淓arly recovery efforts must be bolder and faster, though, otherwise people will leave again: this is now urgent!鈥� he said.
At a meeting in Paris in mid-February, some 20 countries, including Arab nations, Turkiye, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Japan agreed at the close of a conference in Paris to 鈥渨ork together to ensure the success of the transition in a process led by Syria.鈥�
The meeting鈥檚 final statement also pledged support for Syria鈥檚 new authorities in the fight against 鈥渁ll forms of terrorism and extremism.鈥�