{"id":132845,"date":"2025-12-04T07:46:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T07:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/?p=132845"},"modified":"2025-12-04T07:46:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T07:46:20","slug":"aoav-warns-syria-still-unsafe-for-returnees-amid-persistent-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/132845\/","title":{"rendered":"AOAV warns Syria still unsafe for returnees amid persistent violence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013<\/strong> A new analysis by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) warned on Wednesday that Syria remains \u201cprofoundly unsafe\u201d for returning refugees nearly one year after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, despite growing pressure from host countries to accelerate returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report highlights a sharp rise in civilian casualties from unexploded ordnance (UXO) and ongoing violence across the country, underscoring conditions that many returnees describe as unlivable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to <a href=\"https:\/\/aoav.org.uk\/2025\/is-syria-safe-to-return-to\/\">AOAV<\/a>, several states hosting Syrian refugees\u2014some in Europe and the Middle East\u2014have begun offering modest financial incentives to encourage return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, these offers, refugees say, do little to offset the realities on the ground: a shattered economy, destroyed infrastructure, and a lack of services or employment opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report cites recent research by Synaps, based on 130 interviews with refugees, returnees, and aid workers, which found that many returnees face immediate hardship upon arrival and some even choose to leave Syria again, preferring the predictability of refugee camps to the instability back home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Compounding the crisis, humanitarian funding for Syrians has been reduced substantially over the past year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AOAV\u2019s data points to a more alarming threat where Syria\u2019s contamination with explosive remnants of war like bombs, shells, landmines, and improvised devices from more than a decade of conflict\u2014left by state militaries, non-state groups, ISIS, and foreign powers\u2014now blanket cities and agricultural lands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From January to October 2025, at least 1,327 civilians were killed or injured by UXO, averaging more than 130 casualties per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This represents a staggering 390 percent increase compared to the same period in 2024, a rise AOAV suggests may be linked to increased refugee returns to heavily contaminated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Violence continues in parallel. Last week alone, Israeli airstrikes on Rif Dimashq killed 15 and injured 20, while separate incidents across Suwayda, Homs, and Idlib left additional civilian casualties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AOAV stresses that Syria\u2019s landscape remains defined by destroyed infrastructure, ongoing insecurity, and up to 300,000 explosive hazards still uncleared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It warns that until host countries invest in rebuilding and demining, large-scale returns will remain unsafe and premature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>By Jwan Shekaki<\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013 A new analysis by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) warned on Wednesday that Syria remains \u201cprofoundly unsafe\u201d for returning refugees nearly one year after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, despite growing pressure from host countries to accelerate returns. The report highlights a sharp rise in civilian casualties from unexploded ordnance [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":132846,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-syria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>AOAV warns Syria still unsafe for returnees amid persistent violence<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013 A new analysis by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) warned on Wednesday that Syria remains \u201cprofoundly unsafe\u201d for returning\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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