Latest news with #BasharAssad
Winnipeg Free Press
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Displaced Syrians who have returned home face a fragile future, says UN refugees chief
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said Friday that more than two million Syrian refugees and internally displaced people have returned home since the fall of the government of Bashar Assad in December. Speaking during a visit to Damascus that coincided with World Refugee Day, Grandi described the situation in Syria as 'fragile and hopeful' and warned that the returnees may not remain if Syria does not get more international assistance to rebuild its war-battered infrastructure. 'How can we make sure that the return of the Syrian displaced or refugees is sustainable, that people don't move again because they don't have a house or they don't have a job or they don't have electricity?' Grandi asked a small group of journalists after the visit, during which he met with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani and spoke with returning refugees. 'What is needed for people to return, electricity but also schools, also health centers, also safety and security,' he said. Syria's near 14-year civil war, which ended last December with the ouster of former President Bashar Assad in a lightning rebel offensive, killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country's pre-war population of of 23 million. Grandi said that 600,000 Syrians have returned to the country since Assad's fall, and about another 1.5 million internally displaced people returned to their homes in the same period. However, there is little aid available for the returnees, with multiple crises in the region — including the new Israel-Iran war — and shrinking support from donors. The UNHCR has reduced programs for Syrian refugees in neighboring countries, including healthcare, education and cash support for hundreds of thousands in Lebanon. 'The United States suspended all foreign assistance, and we were very much impacted, like others, and also other donors in Europe are reducing foreign assistance,' Grandi said, adding: 'I tell the Europeans in particular, be careful. Remember 2015, 2016 when they cut food assistance to the Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan, the Syrians moved toward Europe.' Some have also fled for security reasons since Assad's fall. While the situation has stabilized since then, particularly in Damascus, the new government has struggled to extend its control over all areas of the country and to bring a patchwork of former insurgent groups together into a national army. There have also been outbreaks of violence, notably in March, when hundreds of civilians, most of them from the Alawite minority to which Assad belongs, were killed in revenge attacks after clashes broke out between pro-Assad armed groups and government security forces on the Syrian coast. Some 40,000 new refugees fled to Lebanon following that violence. Grandi said the UNHCR has been in talks with the Lebanese government, which halted official registration of new refugees in 2015, to register the new refugees and 'provide them with basic assistance.' 'This is a complex community, of course, for whom the chances of return are not so strong right now,' he said. He said he had urged the Syrian authorities to make sure that measures taken in response to the attacks on civilians 'are very strong and to prevent further episodes of violence.' The Israel-Iran war has thrown further fuel on the flames in a region already dealing with multiple crises. Grandi noted that Iran is hosting millions of refugees from Afghanistan who may now be displaced again. The U.N. does not yet have a sense of how many people have fled the conflict between Iran and Israel, he said. 'We know that some Iranians have gone to neighboring countries, like Azerbaijan or Armenia, but we have very little information. No country has asked for help yet,' he said. 'And we have very little sense of the internal displacement, because my colleagues who are in Iran – they're working out of bunkers because of the bombs.' —— Associated Press staff writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.
Toronto Star
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Toronto Star
Displaced Syrians who have returned home face a fragile future, says UN refugees chief
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said Friday that more than two million Syrian refugees and internally displaced people have returned home since the fall of the government of Bashar Assad in December. Speaking during a visit to Damascus that coincided with World Refugee Day, Grandi described the situation in Syria as 'fragile and hopeful' and warned that the returnees may not remain if Syria does not get more international assistance to rebuild its war-battered infrastructure.
Washington Post
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Displaced Syrians who have returned home face a fragile future, says UN refugees chief
DAMASCUS, Syria — U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said Friday that more than two million Syrian refugees and internally displaced people have returned home since the fall of the government of Bashar Assad in December. Speaking during a visit to Damascus that coincided with World Refugee Day, Grandi described the situation in Syria as 'fragile and hopeful' and warned that the returnees may not remain if Syria does not get more international assistance to rebuild its war-battered infrastructure.
Associated Press
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Displaced Syrians who have returned home face a fragile future, says UN refugees chief
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said Friday that more than two million Syrian refugees and internally displaced people have returned home since the fall of the government of Bashar Assad in December. Speaking during a visit to Damascus that coincided with World Refugee Day, Grandi described the situation in Syria as 'fragile and hopeful' and warned that the returnees may not remain if Syria does not get more international assistance to rebuild its war-battered infrastructure. 'How can we make sure that the return of the Syrian displaced or refugees is sustainable, that people don't move again because they don't have a house or they don't have a job or they don't have electricity?' Grandi asked a small group of journalists after the visit, during which he met with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani and spoke with returning refugees. 'What is needed for people to return, electricity but also schools, also health centers, also safety and security,' he said. Syria's near 14-year civil war, which ended last December with the ouster of former President Bashar Assad in a lightning rebel offensive, killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country's pre-war population of of 23 million. Grandi said that 600,000 Syrians have returned to the country since Assad's fall, and about another 1.5 million internally displaced people returned to their homes in the same period. However, there is little aid available for the returnees, with multiple crises in the region -- including the new Israel-Iran war -- and shrinking support from donors. The UNHCR has reduced programs for Syrian refugees in neighboring countries, including healthcare, education and cash support for hundreds of thousands in Lebanon. 'The United States suspended all foreign assistance, and we were very much impacted, like others, and also other donors in Europe are reducing foreign assistance,' Grandi said, adding: 'I tell the Europeans in particular, be careful. Remember 2015, 2016 when they cut food assistance to the Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan, the Syrians moved toward Europe.' Some have also fled for security reasons since Assad's fall. While the situation has stabilized since then, particularly in Damascus, the new government has struggled to extend its control over all areas of the country and to bring a patchwork of former insurgent groups together into a national army. There have also been outbreaks of violence, notably in March, when hundreds of civilians, most of them from the Alawite minority to which Assad belongs, were killed in revenge attacks after clashes broke out between pro-Assad armed groups and government security forces on the Syrian coast. Some 40,000 new refugees fled to Lebanon following that violence. Grandi said the UNHCR has been in talks with the Lebanese government, which halted official registration of new refugees in 2015, to register the new refugees and 'provide them with basic assistance.' 'This is a complex community, of course, for whom the chances of return are not so strong right now,' he said. He said he had urged the Syrian authorities to make sure that measures taken in response to the attacks on civilians 'are very strong and to prevent further episodes of violence.' The Israel-Iran war has thrown further fuel on the flames in a region already dealing with multiple crises. Grandi noted that Iran is hosting millions of refugees from Afghanistan who may now be displaced again. The U.N. does not yet have a sense of how many people have fled the conflict between Iran and Israel, he said. 'We know that some Iranians have gone to neighboring countries, like Azerbaijan or Armenia, but we have very little information. No country has asked for help yet,' he said. 'And we have very little sense of the internal displacement, because my colleagues who are in Iran - they're working out of bunkers because of the bombs.' —— Associated Press staff writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.
Arab News
2 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
Syria completes first global SWIFT transfer since war
DAMASCUS: Syrian Arab Republic has carried out its first international bank transaction via the SWIFT system since the outbreak of its 14-year civil war, its central bank governor said on Thursday, a milestone in the country's push to reintegrate into the global financial system. Abdelkader Husriyeh told Reuters in Damascus that a direct commercial transaction had been carried out from a Syrian to an Italian bank on Sunday, and that transactions with US banks could begin within weeks. 'The door is now open to more such transactions,' he said. Syrian banks were largely cut off from the world during the civil war after a crackdown by Bashar Assad on anti-government protests in 2011 led Western states to impose sanctions, including on Syria's central bank. Assad was ousted as president in a lightning offensive by rebels last year and Syria has since taken steps to re-establish international ties, culminating in a May meeting between interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and US President Donald Trump in Riyadh. The US then significantly eased its sanctions and some in Congress are pushing for them to be totally repealed. Europe has announced the end of its economic sanctions regime. Syria needs to make transfers with Western financial institutions in order to bring in huge sums for reconstruction and to kickstart a war-ravaged economy that has left nine out of 10 people poor, according to the UN. Husriyeh chaired a high-level virtual meeting on Wednesday bringing together Syrian banks, several US banks and US officials, including Washington's Syria envoy Thomas Barrack. The aim of the meeting was to accelerate the reconnection of Syria's banking system to the global financial system and Husriyeh extended a formal invitation to US banks to re-establish correspondent banking ties. 'We have two clear targets: have US banks set up representative offices in Syria and have transactions resume between Syrian and American banks. I think the latter can happen in a matter of weeks,' Husriyeh told Reuters. Among the banks invited to Wednesday's conference were JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Citibank, though it was not immediately clear who attended.
