'40 Syrian refugee families leave Azraq camp back to Syria'

AMMAN — Forty families of Syrian refugees voluntarily left the Azraq Refugee Camp on Friday on their way back home, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported, citing announcement by the UNHCR.

Azraq Refugee Camp, established in 2014, is located 20 kilometers west of Azraq city and is home to 41,000 refugees, with children accounting for 61 per cent of its residents, according to UNHCR.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and UNHCR said they are coordinating refugees' return trips, providing logistical support such as transportation for refugees and their belongings.

UNHCR has reported a significant increase in the number of Syrian refugees returning home from Jordan in 2024.

The total number of returnees reached approximately 17,200, including 5,100 who returned in December alone. UNHCR highlighted the sharp increase in returns in the second half of the year, noting that there were more returnees in December 2024 than in the whole of 2023, which totalled around 4,400.

According to official figures, Jordan is home to around 1.3 million Syrians, including nearly 660,000 refugees registered UNHCR.

Of those who returned in December, 64 per cent were men and boys, while 36 per cent were women and girls. Whole families accounted for 36 per cent of returnees, with all family members travelling together. About 27 per cent of the returnees were children and 5 per cent were elderly.

UNHCR estimates that more than 125,000 Syrians have returned home since the fall of the former regime of Bashar Al Assad [on December 8] from host countries, noting that the main destinations for returnees include Aleppo, Raqqa and Draa, the birthplace of Syrian uprising in 2011.

Earlier in January, the Ministry of Interior said that 1,053 Syrian refugees have voluntarily left camps in Jordan to return to Syria, while 10,262 refugees living outside camps also returned voluntarily.