Besieged Syrians, with reasons to stay and reasons to leave
The most recent massive displacements and a new property law in Syria are making it even less likely that many refugees and internally displaced persons will ever be able to go back to their hometowns.
GAZIANTEP, Turkey — As buses began taking Syrian opposition fighters and their families from a besieged enclave in northern Homs and southern Hama to northern Syria on May 7, those previously displaced were struggling to plot the most pragmatic way forward.
Numerous “evacuations” of besieged areas have doubled the population of Idlib in northwestern Syria over the past few years to more than 2 million people.
Since March, at least 66,000 people were reportedly moved from eastern Ghouta to the northwestern province, where “a lack of accommodation, continued fighting and insecurity are ongoing challenges for those that have been displaced.”
Families often ask some relatives to stay and guard their homes when regime and allied troops arrive, in the hope of one day returning.
