Attachments
Key Highlights
▪ As of 29 January, UNHCR estimates that 1,372,352 individuals have returned to Syria from
neighbouring countries since 8 December 2024 while 1,700,615 internally displaced persons
(IDPs) have returned home (IDP Taskforce and UNHCR estimates).1
▪ On 28 January UNHCR commenced support for the final voluntary return convoy of IDPs from
Areesha Camp, a four-day exercise that will see 248 households (1,259 individuals) departing
and resulting in the closure of the camp, established in 2017.
▪ UNHCR has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Syria’s Ministry of Justice. The
MoU establishes a framework for coordination between UNHCR and the ministry to strengthen the legal environment and support refugee and IDP returnees as well as other affected
communities.
▪ The implementation of the 1,500-unit Damaged Houses Project has commenced in Hama and
Dar’a Governorates, Syria, and coordination continues for the initiation of assessments for
an additional 1,800 damaged houses across all governorates.
▪ A total of 58 families (300 individuals) returning to Syria from Lebanon received transportation
and logistical assistance from Joussieh border crossing point to various areas in the country,
bringing the total to 32,000 returnees supported at the key border crossing points with Türkiye
and Lebanon since 2025.
▪ In Jordan, nearly 4,400 refugees have received cash assistance under UNHCR’s voluntary return
pilot launched in September 2025 while close to 10,500 refugees have used UNHCR-provided
buses to return to Syria since January 2025. UNHCR also supports movements organized by
IOM by conducting voluntary repatriation interviews and counselling from the camps and referring
eligible cases to IOM for arranging transportation.
▪ On 28 January, UNHCR, IOM, and GSO organized the first voluntary return movement of 2026
(the 14th since the programme’s launch) from Beirut, Lebanon, involving 40 individuals. By the
end of December 2025, a total of 54,673 Syrian individuals (11,832 cases) known to UNHCR had
benefited from the facilitated voluntary repatriation programme.
▪ As of 27 January, UNHCR and partners had distributed CRI kits comprising winter clothing,
mattresses, blankets, plastic sheets, kitchen sets, and solar lamps to 2,450 newly displaced
families (approx. 11,000 individuals), mainly in collective centres in Qamishli and Al-Hassakeh.