Türkiye Announces Voluntary Return of More than 1 Million Syrian Refugees

A Syrian refugee camp in the countryside of Aleppo, northern Syria (DPA)
A Syrian refugee camp in the countryside of Aleppo, northern Syria (DPA)
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Türkiye Announces Voluntary Return of More than 1 Million Syrian Refugees

A Syrian refugee camp in the countryside of Aleppo, northern Syria (DPA)
A Syrian refugee camp in the countryside of Aleppo, northern Syria (DPA)

Ankara on Friday revealed that more than one million Syrians have voluntarily returned to their country, but Turkish authorities continue to deport Syrians who have not submitted all their documents for residency permits.

On Friday, the Turkish Defense Ministry said in a statement that more than one million Syrians have voluntarily returned to the cleared areas in northern Syria, including more than 470,000 who have returned to the Idlib region alone.

On the other hand, Syrian activists revealed that Turkish authorities deported on Thursday six Syrian families through the Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) border crossing north of Hasakah Governorate in northeast Syria.

The deportations of Syrians from Türkiye increased after the presidential and parliamentary elections on May 28. Since, Ankara authorities have become strict about residency conditions.

About 450 Syrians have been forcibly deported from Türkiye to Syria through Bab Al-Salama crossing in the last two weeks.

Separately, the Defense Ministry said Türkiye has carried out 320 operations and “neutralized” a total of 794 “terrorists” since Jan. 1.

Turkish forces are constantly launching operations against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, and are also targeting Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) sites in northern Syria, considered by Ankara as a proxy for the PKK and as the main Kurdish armed group in Syria.



Hamas Claims Attack on Israeli Bus in West Bank That Wounded 8 People, Including 4 Soldiers

Four people suffered bullet wounds, three of them serious, and four others were lightly injured by shards of glass, according to the Magen David Adom rescue service - AFP
Four people suffered bullet wounds, three of them serious, and four others were lightly injured by shards of glass, according to the Magen David Adom rescue service - AFP
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Hamas Claims Attack on Israeli Bus in West Bank That Wounded 8 People, Including 4 Soldiers

Four people suffered bullet wounds, three of them serious, and four others were lightly injured by shards of glass, according to the Magen David Adom rescue service - AFP
Four people suffered bullet wounds, three of them serious, and four others were lightly injured by shards of glass, according to the Magen David Adom rescue service - AFP

Hamas claimed responsibility for a shooting attack on an Israeli bus in the occupied West Bank on Friday that wounded eight people, including four soldiers.

It was the latest violence to scar the territory as tensions run high 14 months into the Israel-Hamas war.

The attacker, who Hamas identified in a statement as Samer Hussein, 46, was killed by Israeli troops shortly after opening fire toward the bus at a junction near the Israeli settlement of Ariel.

The military said four soldiers were lightly wounded. Paramedics said three people were critically wounded.

Attacks by Palestinian fighters on Israelis in the volatile territory have grown more common since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, as Palestinian deaths have also spiked.  

Israeli fire has killed 796 Palestinians since Oct. 7, 2023, mostly in military raids on Palestinian cities and towns. Attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property have also increased.