Millions of Syrian refugees have returned home after the fall of the Assad regime

WBUR | By Here & Now Newsroom

Published February 3, 2026 at 12:04 PM EST

Local residents, predominantly Arab, welcome a convoy of Syria's Interior Ministry forces as it passes through en route to the mostly Kurdish town of Qamishli, where the forces are deploying under a ceasefire agreement with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in the village of Mazraat al-Nahar, northeastern Syria, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (Ghaith Alsayed/AP)

More than 3 million Syrian refugees have returned to Syria since the ousting of the Assad regime in December 2024. But after 50 years of the Assad dynasty’s repressive reign and nearly 14 years of civil war, much of the country is in ruins.

Charlotte Slente, secretary general of the Danish Refugee Council, joins Here & Now‘s Scott Tong from Damascus to discuss the humanitarian situation on the ground.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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