Hard homecoming: Syrian refugees return to a devastated land

• Syrian refugees face challenges returning home
• No job opportunities, no infrastructure
• Community centres, projects are crucial lifelines

BEIRUT - Since Bashar al-Assad was ousted by Islamist rebels last December, more than 500,000 refugees have returned to Syria, hoping to rebuild lives upended by 13 years of civil war and financial collapse during the former president's brutal rule.

But for many the homecoming is bittersweet with little support available in a land scarred by war and whose economy has been broken by decades of mismanagement and Western sanctions.

In rural areas, services are almost non-existent and international aid groups, gutted by global cuts, are no longer able to provide the health, education and livelihood support that many communities had come to rely on.

Many more people are likely to want to return home as the new government of former rebel leader President Ahmed al-Sharaa promises free-market policies meant to boost the economy.

About 4.5 million Syrian refugees are registered in neighbouring countries, mainly Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, according to the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR.

In January, UNHCR said it would need $575 million to help 1.5 million refugees return and to resettle another 2 million people displaced inside Syria.

Only $71 million had been pledged by April.

The agency said 42% of the 122 community centres it supports may have to close by the summer.

Centres like the Ghosn Community Centre in the Sheikh Miskin area of the southern Daraa province.

It provides a range of services - from aid distribution to educational courses - but has scaled back much of its help due to funding cuts.

Context spoke with refugees at the centre - and the people who try to help them - to learn the challenges they all face.

Hawazim al-Khalus, 44, a mother of five.

I was in Lebanon. I have been here for eight months. I have a 17-year-old daughter with brain paralysis. She can't walk, sit or do anything. I need sanitary pads for her. I tried registering here at the centre, but they told me that this service has been suspended for the past year.

My financial situation doesn't allow me to (buy them myself). I came (back) to a destroyed home without doors or windows; no furniture. My daughter is sleeping on the floor.

We lived through a very harsh winter. No heating, electricity, water or anything.

There is no support.

The most important thing is to help us with medicine and diapers. My daughter almost froze (to death) the other night. No doctor was willing to open their doors for me. I had to take her to the hospital at 6 a.m. They did not even have the papers to write her admission report.

My daughter was dying in my arms and there was nothing I could do for her.

Rula Nseir, education head at the Ghosn Community Centre, used to help returning students adjust to school life in Syria. But those programmes have now been cut.

Since the beginning of the year, 800 students need educational support courses. We receive daily visits from parents and students to enrol in these courses, and they are shocked we don't have them this year.

The cancellation of the educational programme created a large gap here. Many parents are calling me, saying they don't have the financial means to pay for private lessons and they were waiting for the summer courses we usually hold.

Teachers, educators, and volunteers are ready to teach the programme voluntarily. The important thing is to secure a space and get it organised, just like it used to be.

Abeer Khleif, 43, who returned from Jordan.

I separated from my husband. I have three children. I needed a source of income for myself and my children. I came to the Ghosn centre and they helped me open a hairdressing salon from home in 2023.

My family's house is damaged. I partially fixed a room upstairs and opened the salon there. If the project had more support, I could have set up shop in a densely populated area and employed more people.

It has been very helpful, allowing me to take a new step in life and support my children and myself.

Many people going through circumstances like mine — maybe worse — need (the centre).

My family is in Jordan. They want to return, but our house is destroyed and needs loads of repairs. Returning is necessary, but at the same time, they need a house that is in good condition, they need job opportunities, and they need projects.

Syria is liberated ... it's the beginning of recovery. But unfortunately, job opportunities are still not available, and the country is not back on its feet. There is still not enough incentive to encourage those abroad to return.

The interviews have been edited for clarity and brevity.

(Reporting by Nazih Osseiran ; Editing by Lyndsay Griffiths)