UNHCR: 228,000 Syrian Refugees Returned from Jordan to Syria… 70 Dinars for Each Returnee

Al-Taj News – Recent data issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recently revealed that the number of Syrian refugees who have returned from Jordan to Syria, from December 8, 2024, until September 19 of this year, is estimated at around 228,000 refugees.

At the regional level, UNHCR said that as of August 31, an estimated 1.8 million Syrians had returned from neighboring countries to Syria, in addition to more than two million internally displaced people who had returned to their areas of origin, with the return movement thus continuing, although its patterns and scale vary from one country to another.

Amid the continuation of these returns, cash assistance has emerged as one of the tools used by UNHCR to support refugees who have decided to return voluntarily and help them cope with the costs associated with relocation and re-establishing stability during the initial period after their arrival in Syria.

According to a recent report issued by UNHCR on the role of cash assistance in supporting voluntary return and reintegration, such assistance helps refugees and returnees overcome a range of practical obstacles before departure, during transit, and after arrival, including transportation, documentation, luggage, food, shelter, and other urgent household needs.

According to UNHCR, cash assistance does not operate separately from other forms of support, but rather comes as part of a broader response that includes counseling, legal assistance, the provision of information, monitoring protection conditions, in-kind support, referrals, and community services.

UNHCR stresses that the cash assistance program was not designed as an incentive to encourage refugees to return, but rather to support people who have already made, or announced, an informed and voluntary decision to return to Syria.

Support for Return

The results of a beneficiary survey in Jordan show that more than 80% of them reported that the cash grant was not the decisive factor in their decision to return, despite its contribution to easing the practical financial burdens associated with implementing a decision they had already made.

The experience of cash assistance during the period from September 2025 to March 2026 also showed that around 40% of return cases from the Azraq and Zaatari camps took place without the returnees receiving cash assistance from UNHCR. UNHCR relies on this finding to emphasize that cash assistance represents a supportive and facilitating tool for return, rather than its primary driver.