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Türkiye Says Over 25,0000 Syrians Returned Home Since Assad's Fall

(FILES) Syrians living in Türkiye push a cart loaded with their furniture at the Cilvegozu border crossing gate in Reyhanli on December 12, 2024, on their way back to their country. (Photo by Yasin AKGUL / AFP)
(FILES) Syrians living in Türkiye push a cart loaded with their furniture at the Cilvegozu border crossing gate in Reyhanli on December 12, 2024, on their way back to their country. (Photo by Yasin AKGUL / AFP)
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Türkiye Says Over 25,0000 Syrians Returned Home Since Assad's Fall

(FILES) Syrians living in Türkiye push a cart loaded with their furniture at the Cilvegozu border crossing gate in Reyhanli on December 12, 2024, on their way back to their country. (Photo by Yasin AKGUL / AFP)
(FILES) Syrians living in Türkiye push a cart loaded with their furniture at the Cilvegozu border crossing gate in Reyhanli on December 12, 2024, on their way back to their country. (Photo by Yasin AKGUL / AFP)

More than 25,000 Syrians have returned home from Türkiye since Bashar al-Assad was overthrown by HTS opposition fighters, Türkiye's interior minister said Tuesday.

Türkiye is home to nearly three million refugees who fled the civil war that broke out in 2011, and whose presence has been an issue for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government.

"The number of people returning to Syria in the last 15 days has exceeded 25,000," Ali Yerlikaya told the official Anadolu news agency.

Ankara is in close touch with Syria's new leaders and now focusing on the voluntary return of Syrian refugees, hoping the shift in power in Damascus will allow many of them to return home.

According to AFP, Yerlikaya said a migration office would be established in the Turkish embassy and consulate in Damascus and Aleppo so that the records of returning Syrians could be kept.

Türkiye reopened its embassy in Damascus, nearly a week after Assad was toppled by forces backed by Ankara, and 12 years after the diplomatic outpost was shuttered early in Syria's civil war.

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US Journalist Missing in Syria Since 2012 Is Believed to Be Alive, Says Aid Group

A banner for journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, hangs outside the National Press Club building in Washington, US, May 2, 2023. (Reuters)
A banner for journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, hangs outside the National Press Club building in Washington, US, May 2, 2023. (Reuters)
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US Journalist Missing in Syria Since 2012 Is Believed to Be Alive, Says Aid Group

A banner for journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, hangs outside the National Press Club building in Washington, US, May 2, 2023. (Reuters)
A banner for journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, hangs outside the National Press Club building in Washington, US, May 2, 2023. (Reuters)

American journalist Austin Tice is believed to be still alive, according to the head of an international aid group.

Nizar Zakka, who runs the Hostage Aid Worldwide organization, said there has never been any proof that Tice, who has been missing since 2012, is dead.

He told reporters in Damascus on Tuesday that Tice was alive in January and being held by the authorities of ousted Bashar al-Assad. He added that US President Joe Biden said in August that Tice was alive.

Zakka said Tice was transferred between security agencies over the past 12 years, including in an area where Iranian-backed fighters were operating.

Asked if it was possible Tice had been taken out of the country, Zakka said Assad most likely kept him in Syria as a potential bargaining chip.

Biden said Dec. 8 that his administration believed Tice was alive and was committed to bringing him home, though he also acknowledged that “we have no direct evidence” of his status.