Still a trickle, but refugees are making their way back to Syria

5.4m people have fled their homeland since 2011 when the civil war erupted

Desperate to escape Syria’s terrors, Ammar Maarawi bolted. In early 2016, he paid smugglers and endured a dangerous sea crossing to Greece and an exhausting journey by train, bus and foot through Europe.

Two years later, the 36-yearold is back home in Aleppo. He returned last summer — depressed, homesick and dreading another winter, he couldn’t bear life in the German city of Suhl. Germany, he said, “was boring, boring, boring.”

Maarawi is among a small number of refugees who have come back to Syria from among the more than 5.4 million who fled their homeland since the civil war erupted in 2011. So far, they are just a trickle, numbering in the tens of thousands. The United Nations and host governments in Europe are not encouraging returns, saying the country is not safe.

Stability in Syria

But the stream of returnees may grow over the coming year as stability returns to Syria and as hostility grows to refugees in host nations.

Motivations for going back are many. Simple homesickness is one. Many refugees have burnt through whatever savings they have and either can’t find or aren’t allowed to work. Hundreds of thousands languish in camps in the neighbour countries. Those who make it to Europe often get assistance, but some find the West doesn’t hold the opportunities they hoped — or they face discrimination or they feel alienated in a different culture with language barriers and harsh weather.

Figures on returnees are difficult to pin down. Syrian officials say they do not have exact numbers, adding that many come back through Lebanon and are not questioned if they were refugees or simply travelling Syrians. European countries and Turkey do not track whether Syrians leaving are returning home. The UNHCR has observed some 68,000 refugees who returned on their own from neighbouring countries from January to October 2017, the most recent figures available, according to spokesman Andrej Mahecic. He said the number of returnees is dwarfed by those remaining in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Europe, and those still leaving Syria.

AP Ammar Maarawi, who fled Syria to Europe in 2016, at his tyre shop in Aleppo. He returned last summer from Germany — depressed, homesick and dreading another winter.