A crowd holds a large Syrian flag in Damascus to mark the end of the Assad regime (Picture: Omar Haj Kadour/AFP)
Countries across Europe have reacted to the news of Bashar al-Assad’s fall from power by pausing decisions on Syrian refugee applications.
The influx of refugees from Syria following the outbreak of civil war in 2011 was one of the defining stories of the last decade in Europe, causing a lasting impact on the continent’s politics.
Now, many of those who fled the violence are weighing up whether to return home after rebels toppled Assad from power and forced him into exile.
As the situation in the Middle Eastern country changes rapidly, several governments have announced they will stop processing applications.
In Austria – where a far-right party won the general election three months ago but did not form a government – plans are being made to deport or repatriate people who arrived previously.
The UK has not gone that far, but Home Secretary Yvette Cooper confirmed yesterday applications would be paused ‘while the Home Office reviews and monitors the current situation’.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy told the House of Commons yesterday that the sight of many Syrians deciding to return was ‘a positive sign for their hopes for a better future’.
However, he added: ‘A lot depends on what happens now.
‘This flow into Syria could quickly become a flow back out and potentially increase the numbers using dangerous illegal migration routes to continental Europe and the United Kingdom.’
A map showing the countries that have paused refugee applications from Syria after Assad was ousted (Picture: Created with Datawrapper)
Germany, which opened its doors to more people fleeing Syria than any other European country, has also halted decisions for now.
In an announcement similar to the UK, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the next steps would depend on how the situation in Syria develops.
Norway, Italy, Denmark, Greece and the Netherlands are also suspending their assessments of Syrian refugees.
According to Reuters, the French government is planning to make a similar decision shortly.
How many Syrian refugees are there in the UK?
In 2019, the Office for National Statistics estimated there were around 48,000 people born in Syria residing in the UK – though not all would have arrived as refugees.
That was up from around 9,200 recorded in the 2011 census.
Between 2011 and 2021, almost 31,000 Syrians were granted asylum in the UK. According to the House of Commons library, ‘virtually no one’ from the country sought asylum in the UK before 2011.
Syrians gather in Piccadilly Circus, London, to mark the downfall of Bashar al-Assad (Picture: Zouhir Al-Shimale/PA Wire)
How many Syrian refugees are there in Europe?
Since the outbreak of civil war in 2011, more than 14 million Syrians have fled their home.
However, around half of them are displaced within their own country, and a further 5.5 million have ended up in nearby countries Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt.
In 2021, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said one million Syrian asylum seekers and refugees had been hosted in European countries.
Germany brought in the most by far, around 59 percent of that total. Sweden took 11 percent, while other countries took fewer than five percent.
It is unclear how many of those people currently remain in their host countries, and how many are now making plans to return home following the end of the Assad regime.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.