On Wednesday, developments highlighted escalating tensions in Syria. U.S. troops and Iranian-backed armed groups exchanged attacks in the Deir-ez-Zor province, while President Biden renewed calls for the release of journalist Austin Tice, detained in Syria since 2012. Meanwhile, Syrian refugees in southern Lebanon face dire conditions amid the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. At the same time, a Dutch court ruled that Syrian asylum seekers returning to Syria could affect their refugee status. Similarly, Turkey is tightening measures on missing Syrian refugees and enhancing border security to manage migration challenges.
US troops and Iranian-backed armed groups exchanged attacks in eastern Syria, local sources reported on Wednesday.
The sources told Anadolu that armed groups backed by Iran carried out a rocket attack on the Conoco gas field in Deir ez-Zor province, where the US troops are stationed.
Plumes of smoke rose from the base, but no casualties or damage was reported.
In turn, fighter jets of the US-led international coalition struck military points belonging to the Iranian-backed groups in Deir ez-Zor province, the sources said.
The US Army is yet to comment on the reported attacks.
In recent months, drone and missile attacks were carried out against US bases in Syria by unknown armed groups, likely to be Iranian-backed.
Biden says he ‘repeatedly pressed’ Syria to discuss Austin Tice, calls for urgent release
Biden administration officials have “repeatedly pressed” Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government to work with them to release Austin Tice, a journalist and former U.S. Marine held in their custody, President Joe Biden said on Wednesday, renewing his call for Tice’s immediate release.
In a statement to McClatchy, Biden noted that Wednesday “marks 12 long, terrible years since American Austin Tice was abducted in Syria.” TOP VIDEOS “We have repeatedly pressed the government of Syria to work with us so that we can, at last, bring Austin home. Today, I once again call for his immediate release,” the president said. “The freedom of the press is essential, and journalists like Austin play a critical role informing the public and holding those in power accountable,” Biden added.
“We stand in solidarity with Austin, his family, and all Americans wrongfully detained and held hostage abroad. I will continue to do everything possible to advocate for and pursue his release and support his loved ones until he is safely returned home.”
Tice disappeared in Syria in August 2012 while covering the country’s civil war as a freelance journalist for McClatchy, The Washington Post, and other publications. U.S. officials believe he was detained at a Syrian government checkpoint southwest of Damascus on Aug. 14 of that year. A video emerged six weeks after his disappearance purporting to show him in captivity.
Syrian refugees in southern Lebanon facing dire living conditions amid Hezbollah-Israel tensions
“We were doomed to suffer since we fled the war in Syria to southern Lebanon, where we were looking for security and safety but only reaped poverty and death,” Khodor Hamid, a refugee from the northern Syrian province of Idlib, expressed his discontent with the painful reality faced by those like him living in the border area of southern Lebanon.
Repairing his tent damaged by Israeli attacks in the Marjeyoun Plain in southeastern Lebanon, Hamid told Xinhua he was harvesting tomatoes and cucumbers in early August when an Israel drone launched a missile, injuring three of his children and causing severe damage to his tent.
“We became victims of the fierce confrontations between Israel and Hezbollah. Many of us were martyred and wounded, and we fear further escalation in confrontations,” he said.
Jamal Abdel Nour, displaced from Syria’s northern province of Aleppo to Lebanon’s Wazzani village, told Xinhua he is unable to flee to safer areas due to poverty, lack of assistance from donors, and absence of accommodation centers for displaced Syrians.
“We do not know where to escape from this hell,” he said, adding that municipalities in nearby villages refuse to receive new displaced Syrians, and the displaced camps are overcrowded and cannot accommodate new displaced people.
“If we succeed in moving to other places, we will remain unemployed, unable to secure a living for our families,” he said, fearing that an escalation of regional tensions will turn his fate and that of his fellow Syrian refugees further ambiguous.
Trips back to Syria can impact asylum applications, Netherlands court rules
The Dutch Council of State ruled that the IND can deny residency permits to Syrian asylum seekers who have returned to Syria, but must consider each individual case, Dutch News reported.
The court reviewed two cases: one involved a woman who returned to care for her sick mother, and the other involved a woman who made multiple visits to Syria from Egypt. The court emphasized that Dutch law assumes Syrians face harm if they return, but if they do so without issues, their asylum claim must be carefully assessed. The number of new asylum applications in the Netherlands has recently decreased, with a notable drop in applications from Iraqis and Syrians.
In the first case, the court required the ministry to provide better justification for rejecting the woman’s asylum application, considering her past experiences in Syria. In the second case, the court upheld the ministry’s decision, agreeing that the woman did not face serious harm given her multiple visits to a regime-controlled area without security issues.
Overall, the ruling highlights the importance of individualized assessments in asylum cases, especially when an applicant has returned to their home country. The court’s decision underscores the complexity of asylum applications for Syrian nationals, where the assumption of danger may be challenged by the applicant’s actions.
Türkiye tightens measures on ‘missing’ refugees, migration
Daily Sabah reported that Turkey is intensifying its efforts to manage the situation with “missing” Syrian refugees, who are believed to have used the country as a transit point to Europe. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya revealed that nearly 400,000 Syrians have not updated their addresses and have been given a final 90-day notice to do so. If they fail, they risk losing access to social support and services. Turkey has also implemented stringent border security measures, including a 911-kilometer wall along its border with Syria, to prevent further illegal migration.
Yerlikaya emphasized that since June 2022, Turkey has not registered any new Syrian refugees, effectively closing its borders to new entries from Syria. He also highlighted the construction of a secure zone in northern Syria, housing 7 million people, as a key strategy to stop migration at its source.
In addition to managing Syrian refugees, Turkey is also dealing with irregular migration, particularly from Afghanistan and Africa. Over the past 20 years, Turkey has intercepted 2.6 million irregular migrants, with a significant increase in Afghan migrants in recent years. The country has invested heavily in border security, spending nearly $1 billion to build walls, patrolling lanes, and deploy advanced surveillance technology.
The Turkish government is also encouraging voluntary returns of Syrian refugees to their homeland. In the past year alone, 132,288 Syrians have returned, bringing the total number of returnees over the past five years to 687,706. Turkey, in partnership with Qatar, is constructing 240,000 homes in northern Syria to facilitate these returns.
Finally, Turkey is introducing new measures to prevent ID forgery and improve the monitoring of refugees, including the rollout of ID cards with embedded chips and mandatory fingerprint collection for those entering the country. These measures aim to ensure better control over the refugee population and curb illegal activities.
