Nearly 200,000 Syrian Refugees in Jordan Return Home Since Fall of Syrian Regime
ARK News.. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Jordan announced that more than 190,000 registered Syrian refugees have returned to Syria since December 8, 2024, following the fall of the former regime, while more than 16,000 refugees have returned since the beginning of this year.
According to Jordan’s Al-Mamlaka TV, UNHCR spokesperson Yousef Taha said that the returnees over recent months were distributed as follows: 4,500 in January, 3,900 in February, 3,400 in March, and 4,000 in April, noting that 58% returned as families compared to 42% as individuals.
Taha also stated that 46,000 of the total returnees came from the Zaatari Camp and Azraq Camp, representing 24% of all returnees. He pointed out that the number of Syrian refugees remaining in the two camps currently stands at 81,000, including 48,000 in Zaatari and 33,000 in Azraq.
He added that 76% of the returnees had been residing in urban areas within Jordan, particularly in the governorates of the capital, Irbid, Mafraq, and Zarqa, noting that the main destinations inside Syria included Daraa, Homs, Rif Dimashq, Damascus, and Hama.
Taha explained that 6,500 refugees benefited from cash assistance designated to facilitate return, in addition to the provision of around 10,000 buses across 280 trips to transport returnees as part of voluntary return support programs.
He noted that the cash assistance amounts to $300 per family and 70 Jordanian dinars per individual, based on criteria that include families with disabilities, special humanitarian cases, or large households.
In a related context, UNHCR data indicated that the total funding allocated for its operations in Jordan amounts to $65 million, representing about 23.2% of the required needs, while the funding gap stands at approximately $215 million.
UN estimates indicate that the number of Syrian refugees in Jordan prior to these developments was around 700,000 registered refugees, while the total number, including both registered and unregistered individuals, exceeds 1.3 million.
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