Regional Flash Update #66 Syria Situation (27 February 2026)

Key Highlights

• As of 26 February, UNHCR estimates that 1,470,609 individuals have returned to Syria from other countries since 8 December 2024. The main governorate of return remains Damascus followed by Aleppo, Idleb, Homs and Rural Damascus.
• Following the Government of Syria’s relocation of families from Al Hol to Akburhan camp in Aleppo, UNHCR maintains a daily presence in Akburhan and continues to scale up its response. The Directorate of Social Affairs and Labour has requested UNHCR’s support in conducting the population registration exercise in the camp.
• On 25 January, 70 refugees returned from Lebanon through the Jdeidet Yabous border crossing under the joint programme coordinated by UNHCR Syria, UNHCR and IOM Lebanon, as well as Syria’s General Authority for Ports and Customs. The returnees were supported with transportation and legal assistance.
• UNHCR’s monitoring of the situation of returnees across various governorates in Syria reveals needs for shelter, protection, cash assistance, food and legal aid, particularly for families that found their homes occupied.
• The Civil Registry Office in Ein El-Bayda, rural Lattakia, Syria, was inaugurated following its rehabilitation and equipping by UNHCR. The facility is expected to serve about 100,000 individuals from returnee and host communities, improving access to civil documentation services and supporting reintegration efforts in the coastal area.
• On 22 February, UNHCR Syria handed over to the Ministry of Education a new vocational training centre in Murek, Hama Governorate, funded by the Government of Japan. The centre will provide learning opportunities to hundreds of women and girls. Murek is a town that has been receiving refugee returnees from as far as Europe, as well as people previously displaced within Syria.
• By the end of January 2026, a total of 57,444 Syrian individuals known to UNHCR in Lebanon had benefited from the facilitated return programmes, including voluntariness assessments, issuance of repatriation forms and provision of return cash grants.