Around 1.3 million Syrian refugees returned home in 2025 in one of the largest single refugee return movements worldwide, the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Thursday.
The figure is roughly three times the number of people who returned in 2024, reducing the number of Syrian refugees worldwide from just over six million to 4.9 million by the end of 2025.
Many Syrians around the world have expressed a desire to return home following the December 2024 fall of the Assad regime , but the decision is beset by challenges and difficulties, especially for those who have built lives and established themselves in host countries.
Syrian refugee Mohammed Al-Tahan, who hails from Aleppo and now lives in France, told The New Arab that "the decision to return, although it crosses every refugee’s mind, is not an easy one".
He added that it usually concerns an entire family rather than just one individual and requires extensive planning for everyone involved.
Al-Tahan explained that the issue becomes more complicated the more years a refugee spends abroad, as individuals and families work to rebuild their lives in new societies.
"We now have new generations who either barely know Syria or don’t know it at all. Children and young people have become integrated into schools, universities, and labour markets, making it extremely difficult to persuade them to leave the only life they have ever known," al-Tahan said.
He also said that refugees frequently discussed the hardship of life in Syria, with limited job opportunities and difficulties obtaining housing. The homes of tens of thousands of refugees were destroyed in the war, while renting or buying a home is increasingly expensive.
On the other hand, Aisha al-Bakkar, a Syrian from the Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus, which was ravaged by war, explained to TNA why she had returned to the country from Germany with her two daughters after her husband died.
"Living conditions in Syria have become reasonable following the fall of the previous regime," she said.
She added that the main reason her family left Syria in 2012 was fear of arrest, as her husband had been active in humanitarian work and in assisting displaced people. The family had first settled in Turkey before continuing to Europe.
Bakkar noted that some of her relatives had returned to Syria before she did, which encouraged her to make the decision. "With the help of relatives and acquaintances, I renovated our family home in the town of Saqba and enrolled my two daughters in school—one in middle school and the other in secondary school."
Despite the difficulties she currently faces, Al-Bakkar said: "I do not regret the decision to return, and I believe things are improving day by day."
According to UNHCR data, the Syrian provinces of Aleppo, Homs, and Idlib have witnessed significant refugee returns since late 2024.
Approximately 239,000 people returned to Idlib, 233,000 to Aleppo, 206,000 to Homs, 286,000 to Damascus city, 212,000 to the Damascus countryside (Rif Dimashq), and 166,000 to Hama.