More than 1,000 Syrians Have Withdrawn Asylum Applications in Cyprus, Hundreds Return Home

Cyprus' deputy Minister of Migration and International Protection Nicholas Ioannides, right, and the EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner shake hands before their meeting at the Deputy Ministry of Migration and International Protection in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. (AP)
Cyprus' deputy Minister of Migration and International Protection Nicholas Ioannides, right, and the EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner shake hands before their meeting at the Deputy Ministry of Migration and International Protection in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. (AP)
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More than 1,000 Syrians Have Withdrawn Asylum Applications in Cyprus, Hundreds Return Home

Cyprus' deputy Minister of Migration and International Protection Nicholas Ioannides, right, and the EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner shake hands before their meeting at the Deputy Ministry of Migration and International Protection in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. (AP)
Cyprus' deputy Minister of Migration and International Protection Nicholas Ioannides, right, and the EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner shake hands before their meeting at the Deputy Ministry of Migration and International Protection in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. (AP)

More than 1,000 Syrian nationals have withdrawn their applications for asylum or international protection because they intend to return to their homeland, while another 500 have already gone back, a Cypriot official said Friday.

Cyprus’ Deputy Minister for Migration and International Protection Nicholas Ioannides said after talks with European Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner Magnus Brunner that the development comes in the wake of the fall of the Assad government in Syria last month.

Cyprus has adopted tougher polices in the last few years to stem the arrival of thousands of migrants either by boat from neighboring Lebanon or Syria or from Türkiye via the island’s breakaway Turkish Cypriot north. Cypriot officials had said that the percentage of irregular migrants relative to the population had been as high as 6% — six times the European average.

The tougher policies have borne fruit, according to Ioannides. Speaking earlier this week, he said some 10,000 irregular migrants left Cyprus last year, either through voluntary returns, deportations or relocations to other European nations, making the island the European Union’s leader in departures relative to arrivals.

New asylum applications in 2024 amounted to 6,769 – a 41% drop from the previous year and about a third of those filed in 2022.

Ioannides had said the drop in new asylum applications has enabled authorities to more quickly process outstanding applications and offer the necessary support to those who qualify for international protection.

The minister said arrivals by boat in recent months — particularly from Lebanon — have dropped to nil, thanks to increased patrols and cooperation with neighboring governments and European and international authorities.

Last May, the EU unveiled a 1 billion euro ($1.03 billion) aid package for Lebanon to boost border control to halt the flow of asylum seekers and migrants from the country across the Mediterranean Sea to Cyprus and Italy.

But Cyprus has been called out for breaching the rights of migrants. Last October, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Cyprus violated the right of two Syrian nationals to seek asylum in the island nation after keeping them and more than two dozen other people aboard a boat at sea for two days before sending them back to Lebanon.



Norway PM Wants Oil Fund to Review Stake in Israeli Company

This aerial view shot from a German Air Force (Luftwaffe) military transport aircraft during an airdrop relief mission shows the scene in the Gaza Strip on August 5, 2025. (AFP)
This aerial view shot from a German Air Force (Luftwaffe) military transport aircraft during an airdrop relief mission shows the scene in the Gaza Strip on August 5, 2025. (AFP)
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Norway PM Wants Oil Fund to Review Stake in Israeli Company

This aerial view shot from a German Air Force (Luftwaffe) military transport aircraft during an airdrop relief mission shows the scene in the Gaza Strip on August 5, 2025. (AFP)
This aerial view shot from a German Air Force (Luftwaffe) military transport aircraft during an airdrop relief mission shows the scene in the Gaza Strip on August 5, 2025. (AFP)

Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said Tuesday he had asked the country's finance minister to look into the country's sovereign wealth fund having invested in an Israeli jet engine maker, even as the war in Gaza raged.

Norway's sovereign wealth fund, also known as the oil fund as it is fueled by vast revenue from the country's oil and gas exports, is the biggest in the world and with a value of some $1.9 trillion, with investments spanning the globe.

On Monday, Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten reported that the fund had invested in Israeli Bet Shemesh Engines Holdings, which manufactures parts for jet engines used in Israeli fighter jets.

"I get very concerned when I see this," Store told broadcaster NRK on Tuesday.

Store added that he had asked the finance minister to get in touch with the country's central bank, which manages the fund, "to find out what the situation is."

Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, confirmed on Tuesday that the fund had purchased a stake in the company in 2023 and that it had increased its holdings after the Israeli offensive in Gaza begun.

Tangen said the fund now owned over two percent of the company's shares.

Speaking to broadcaster TV2, the head of the ethics council evaluating whether companies live up to the fund's ethical guidelines, Svein Richard Brandtzaeg, said the council had not deemed the sale of aircraft engines to Israel covered by the ethical guidelines.

"We have therefore not investigated companies that maintain aircraft engines. We will now consider this. The fund has comprehensive ethical guidelines, but there is still room for discretion on the part of the council," he told TV2.

Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday afternoon told a press conference he still had confidence in Tangen, following calls that the fund head should resign.

Stoltenberg stressed that the central bank and the fund were "responsible for implementation and enforcement based on the overall guidelines," news agency NTB reported.

The news agency added that Stoltenberg had also requested a new review of the fund's investments in Israel.