Over 175,000 Syrians have returned home from Türkiye
ISTANBUL: More than 175,000 Syrians who fled their country's civil war to neighbouring Türkiye have returned home since the fall of president Bashar al Assad in December, the Turkish interior ministry said on Wednesday. Nearly 2.8 million Syrian refugees are still in Türkiye, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said, adding that the 175,412 returns between December 9 and April 13 were all "voluntary".
Overall, around 400,000 Syrians have returned from neighbouring countries since Assad's fall, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR. The agency also says more than one million Syrians displaced within their country by the conflict had also returned to their homes.
Save the Children said on Wednesday that more than 400,000 children in Syria were at risk of "severe malnutrition" after the United States suspended aid, forcing the charity to slash operations in the war-torn country. Bujar Hoxha, Save the Children's Syria director, in a statement called on the international community to urgently fill the funding gap, warning that needs were "higher than ever" after years of war and economic collapse. "More than 416,000 children in Syria are now at significant risk of severe malnutrition following the sudden suspension of foreign aid," Save the Children said in a statement, adding separately that the cuts were those of the United States. — AFP
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