On World Refugee Day: Half Syrian Population Unable to Safely Return to Syria

A Syrian girl, displaced with her family from Deir Ezzor, looks at the camera inside the damaged building where she is living in Syria's northern city of Raqqa on June 18, 2022. (AFP)
A Syrian girl, displaced with her family from Deir Ezzor, looks at the camera inside the damaged building where she is living in Syria's northern city of Raqqa on June 18, 2022. (AFP)
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On World Refugee Day: Half Syrian Population Unable to Safely Return to Syria

A Syrian girl, displaced with her family from Deir Ezzor, looks at the camera inside the damaged building where she is living in Syria's northern city of Raqqa on June 18, 2022. (AFP)
A Syrian girl, displaced with her family from Deir Ezzor, looks at the camera inside the damaged building where she is living in Syria's northern city of Raqqa on June 18, 2022. (AFP)

Refugees and internally displaced persons, who now comprise half the Syrian population, will be unable to safely return to Syria until it achieves a political transition towards democracy, a report by a human rights group has stated.

According the Syrian Network for Human Rights, atrocious violations are still ongoing in Syria, committed by various parties to the conflict and the controlling forces.

It stressed that these primary violations have been the direct cause of the forced displacement of millions of Syrians.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that nearly 13.4 million Syrians are now either internally displaced or refugees, including nearly 6.7 million internally displaced, some of whom have been displaced more than once, and nearly 6.6 million refugees, the vast majority of whom are in neighboring countries.

The report notes that some of the violations committed against Syrians have affected many refugees who were forced to return to unsafe areas under the regime’s control due to harsh conditions in the countries of asylum.

Some of the returning refugees have been subjected to many types of violations upon their return, most notably arbitrary arrest, torture, and enforced disappearance.

Since early 2014 until June 2022, the SNHR has documented at least 3,057 cases of arbitrary arrest, including against 244 children and 203 women (adult female) of the refugees who returned from countries of asylum or residence to their areas of residence in Syria (with the vast majority of these returning from Lebanon).

The regime released 1,874 of these detainees, while the rest remain in detention, with 813 of them classified as forcibly disappeared. The report also recorded at least 72 cases of sexual violence against returning refugees during the same period.

Some countries seeking to return refugees are attempting to justify their position by citing the “presidential amnesty” issued by the regime earlier this year.

However, the SNHR has confirmed that only about 539 people have been released from the regime’s various civil and military prisons and security branches in the Syrian governorates between May 1 and June 13. The released included 61 women and 16 people who were children at the time of their arrest.

The regime is still detaining some 132,000 other people and has launched new waves of arbitrary arrests since issuing the amnesty, detaining 57 Syrians.

The report stressed that attempts by several European countries to deport refugees are a violation of international law. These include the British government’s attempt to transfer a group of refugees, including Syrian refugees, to Rwanda.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said Rwanda is an unsafe country, and that its own citizens and other residents suffer from serious human rights violations.

The group called on the governments of countries sheltering Syrian refugees to stop their constant threat to deport them, stressing that this an additional source of psychological anxiety, a threat to their financial stability, and disruption to their social integration processes.

It urged the UNHCR to take clear, repeated, and public positions in responding to governments that constantly threaten and manipulate refugees according to domestic political interests.



CENTCOM Nominee: US Needs Troops in Syria to Stop ISIS Comeback

US Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper 
US Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper 
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CENTCOM Nominee: US Needs Troops in Syria to Stop ISIS Comeback

US Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper 
US Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper 

ISIS remains a threat in Syria and a US military presence is still needed there to deal with it, US Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper said in his confirmation hearing to become the next head of US Central Command.

The Pentagon has already decided to significantly reduce the number of troops in the country from 2,000 to fewer than 1,000.

But Cooper told the Senate Armed Services Committee on June 24 there is a continued need for at least some presence. And he argued that the complex situation in Syria needs to be weighed before making additional troop cuts.

“Presence is indispensable in the execution of the counter-ISIS mission today,” said Cooper, who currently serves as the deputy commander of CENTCOM, which oversees US forces in the Middle East.

“We have led it. We lead it today, and I anticipate we’ll lead it into the future. Every decision made on force posture is going to be conditions-based as I look to the future,” he added.

When asked by Senator Joni Ernst about the church bombing in Syria few days ago, Cooper said, “We are focused on this problem set every single day. ISIS remains a threat, and as we look to the future, and if confirmed, I will remain nose down on this threat. It is an absolute priority.”

Cooper said the US was right to back Syrian President Ahmed Sharaa and that he was a vital partner in the campaign against ISIS.

“ISIS thrives in chaos,” Cooper said. “If the government of Syria, now seven months into their existence, can help suppress that ISIS threat, along with the US forces in the region, that stability helps create our own security.”

He added, “I think, given the dynamic nature of what’s happening today, that assessment [of required US troops in Syria] in the future could look different than it does today, perhaps.”

Cooper said the US played—and continues to play—a central role in the anti-ISIS campaign.

“The United States has led this mission from the outset. We still lead it today, and I expect that leadership to continue as we move forward, guided by operational realities,” he affirmed.