Hundreds of Syrians drop asylum bids in Cyprus since Assad's fall, migration minister says

Hundreds of Syrians who sought refuge in Cyprus after the onset of civil war over a decade ago have withdrawn asylum applications in the weeks since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, Cypriot officials said on Wednesday.

"We have on average 40 asylum requests made by Syrians being withdrawn a day from Dec. 9 onwards," said Nikolas Ioannides, Cyprus's migration minister.

He said that from Dec. 9, 2024 to Jan. 31, 2025, 1,367 Syrians had expressed an intention to return to Syria, with 944 of those individuals rescinding their asylum applications. Another 423 had waived a refugee or subsidiary protection status, with 755 having left Cyprus, Ioannides said.

Cyprus is the European Union's easternmost state and the closest to the Middle East, situated in the eastern Mediterranean about 160 km (100 miles) west of the shores of Lebanon and Syria.

Thousands of Syrians had fled to the island in recent years, mainly by sea, forcing authorities to suspend the processing of asylum applications following a sharp increase early last year.

Reuters