Belgium records voluntary return of over 100 Syrians to home in 2025

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - Official Belgian figures released on Friday show that 111 Syrians have voluntarily returned to their home country since the beginning of the year.

Syrians living in Belgium will continue to return to their home country in 2025, a trend prompted by the fall of the Assad regime in December last year, the Belga news agency reported, citing figures from the asylum agency Fedasil.

Since the overthrow of former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad on December 8, 2024, a total of 111 Syrians have returned home, while 18 more have booked flights and 16 are "interested" in doing so.

A day after the regime fell, Belgium announced that Syrian asylum applications would be suspended until the end of the month.

According to the report, consultations on extending the measure will begin soon, but it is unclear whether Syrian asylum applications will be processed again in August.

According to 2023 data, out of 12,355 registered asylum seekers in Belgium, 2,682 are Syrians.