18,000 Syrians Returned Home from Jordan Since Assad’s Fall

Syrians work at a vegetables market in Aleppo, on December 23, 2024. (Photo by Aaref WATAD / AFP)
Syrians work at a vegetables market in Aleppo, on December 23, 2024. (Photo by Aaref WATAD / AFP)
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18,000 Syrians Returned Home from Jordan Since Assad’s Fall

Syrians work at a vegetables market in Aleppo, on December 23, 2024. (Photo by Aaref WATAD / AFP)
Syrians work at a vegetables market in Aleppo, on December 23, 2024. (Photo by Aaref WATAD / AFP)

About 18,000 Syrians have crossed into their country from Jordan since the government of Bashar Assad was toppled earlier this month, Jordanian authorities said on Thursday.
Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya told state TV channel Al-Mamlaka that “around 18,000 Syrians have returned to their country between the fall of the regime of Bashar Assad on December 8, 2024 until Thursday.”
He said the returnees included 2,300 refugees registered with the United Nations.
Amman says it has hosted about 1.3 million Syrians who fled their country since civil war broke out in 2011, with 650,000 formally registered with the United Nations.

Earlier this month, Al-Faraya said that security circumstances now allow Syrian refugees to return to their country.

"What prevented refugees from returning to their country was the security issue and now this has changed,” he said.

The minister said information suggests that security conditions on the northern border of the Kingdom with Syria are stable, adding that what is happening today in Syria represents "the end of a tragedy and years of suffering."

The Jaber-Nasib border crossing, which is located about 80 kilometers west of Amman, is currently the only functioning crossing between the two countries.



Israeli Strikes Kill 17 People In Gaza, Nearly all of Them Women or Kids

Palestinian children walk past the rubble of houses, destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 7, 2025. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Palestinian children walk past the rubble of houses, destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 7, 2025. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
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Israeli Strikes Kill 17 People In Gaza, Nearly all of Them Women or Kids

Palestinian children walk past the rubble of houses, destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 7, 2025. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Palestinian children walk past the rubble of houses, destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 7, 2025. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

Israeli airstrikes in southern Gaza killed at least 17 people late Tuesday, nearly all of them women or children, the territory’s Health Ministry and hospital officials said.
Five kids were killed as they sheltered together in the same tent, said Ahmed al-Farra, director of the children's ward at nearby Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Their bodies were among the eight children and five women brought to the hospital after strikes on tents, homes and a vehicle. Two bodies were unidentifiable, The Associated Press said.
The Israeli military said it targeted militants who had taken part in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war, without providing evidence. Israel said it took steps to lessen the risk of hurting civilians and blamed Hamas for the civilian casualties.
The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza is raging with no end in sight, although there has reportedly been recent progress in long-running talks aimed at a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Some Palestinians in the Gaza Strip still have hope the war will end soon. Issam Saqr, a displaced man from Khan Younis, told The Associated Press he hopes the ceasefire “will happen today — before tomorrow!”