The Syrian conflict battered Syrians between 2011 and 2024. It drove more than half of them into a diaspora around the world, spread across more than 100 countries on all continents. The majority of this diaspora has been concentrated in three main regions. The first is the nearby neighboring countries, most notably Türkiye, Lebanon, and Jordan; this region hosts the largest number of Syrians, estimated at around 5 million people.
The second is the broader Arab world, especially Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Estimates put the number of Syrians living in these countries at nearly 3 million. The third is Western Europe, where the number of Syrian refugees and residents is close to 2 million.
It should go without saying that the diaspora was not the Syrians' choice. The exodus was a result of coercion, compulsion, and violence against the majority, who were expelled from their homes, cities, and villages and forced to leave under the threat of death or arrest (arrests that could become death under torture, or enforced disappearance, as was the fate of hundreds of thousands of Syrians over the long years of conflict). That does not, however, negate the fact that a small number of Syrians chose to leave preemptively, amid the complex circumstances surrounding the conflict and Syria itself.
The paths of the Syrian diaspora were many. The most prominent was departure to the neighboring countries of Türkiye, Lebanon, and Jordan. From there began the first and most important routes of their dispersal, with limited movement onward into other countries.
Later, these countries turned into platforms through which Syrians crossed into the regions of their present diaspora. Türkiye was the country that most migrants passed through before settling in Western and Northern Europe, where the largest concentrations are found in Germany and Sweden. This also happened in part through Lebanon, Libya, and Egypt.
The second path was moving, under particular circumstances, to live in the surrounding Arab countries, where they obtained residency in states including Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the Gulf, and Egypt, Libya, and Algeria in North Africa.
The third path was through the resettlement plan administered by the United Nations, under which batches of tens of thousands of Syrians were resettled in countries the most important of which were Britain in Western Europe and Canada in North America.
The paths of the diaspora were brimming with tragedy. Some were easy, especially in the early period when borders were almost open and there was a measure of "acceptance" of receiving refugees. Over time, escape became almost impossible as the numbers surged amid the militarization and internationalization of the conflict, with more time passing and no horizon for a Syrian solution in sight.
Aid provided the bare minimum before it stopped, and sympathy waned in most countries. Syrian refugees were then exploited for domestic and regional political ends, and the conditions of refugees and residents in various countries began to deteriorate in various respects. One example is Western Europe, where the economic crisis and the rise of the far right undermined refugees' status and complicated their living conditions.
The change of 2024 in Syria came against the background: the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime and the establishment of the new authority. There is no doubt one priority of the new authorities is ensuring the return of Syrians from their diaspora, or at least placing this return on the program, especially as most diaspora countries have sought to resolve it, or some of its aspects.
Many Syrians in the diaspora, too, were eager to return to their country and homes. However, these desires and intentions collided with real and objective conditions that made tackling the file difficult. Progress will require resources and time, as well as complex and intensive cooperation among many parties (notably the Syrian government, the governments of the diaspora countries, and Syrian communities in those countries).
Given the major impediments to resolving the issue of the Syrian diaspora, necessity dictates that (alongside preserving Syrians' right to return to their country and homes and treating this as a central goal among the larger objectives) there is a need for policies and measures that serve this goal in the near term. Perhaps foremost among them being the establishment of institutions and networks linking Syria with diaspora communities, including the organization of those communities, and giving these institutions a role in strengthening political, economic, and cultural ties with their country.
Syrian actors and their institutions in the diaspora must also be at the forefront of strengthening Syria's relations with diaspora countries, rebuilding Syria, and supporting Syria's standing and role at the regional and international levels. This should be accompanied by official follow-up on the affairs of Syrians in the diaspora, and efforts to address the issues that warrant the intervention of the Syrian state. We saw this with Syrian prisoners and detainees in Lebanon, where cooperation between the two countries brought an end to severe suffering that had continued for years.
In terms of specifics, it is crucial adopt policies and take measures that encourage the return, even if only partial, of Syrians from the diaspora, especially those with expertise and distinctive skills that help create opportunities for their practical and symbolic presence in the country and their participation in reviving it; to improve its image in the world and among their fellow citizens; and to bring Syrians in the diaspora into national advisory bodies and to include them at Syrian conferences and seminars held around the world.
The success of the authorities in Syria is not measured only through their ability to improve the lives of Syrians residing inside the country. It also means addressing the affairs of Syrians in the diaspora and helping them thrive, because most Syrians entered their diaspora with their hearts still with their country and their people. They have suffered greatly, and some of them can help their country develop and advance.
