(Nakhal.com, 24. April 2021)

‘Alle kilder på nær syrisk general fordømmer Danmarks beslutning’, skrev BT tidligere på ugen, og citerede en perlerække af organisationer, der ikke mente det var sikkert at sende syriske flygtninge tilbage til Damaskus. Debatten fortsætter til alle kan bo i Danmark på ubestemt tid, men lad os lige skrue tiden lidt tilbage. (Tip: FS)

Tilbage i sommeren 2018 kunne Radio24syv afsløre, at det libanesiske rejseselskab Nakhal i to år havde arrangeret rejser fra Skandinavien til Syrien. Ruten var en stor en succes, og mange herboende syrere tog hjem på sommerferie. “… det er ret sikkert i Damaskus”, forklarede Tarek Aridi dengang. Nakhal arrangerer stadig rejser til Syrien målrettet i Skandinavien-bosatte syrere, omend de i dag dog kræver en negativ corona-test.

Det var også i sommeren 2018, at Al-Monitor bragte en større artikel om syriske flygtninge, der tog hjem for at holde Eid i Idlip-regionen (i det nordvestlige Syrien) – Syrians flock home from Turkey for Eid despite danger.

“Syrian refugees living in Turkey have been entering Idlib, in northern Syria, for the Eid al-Adha holiday. The administration of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing started to allow people in through on Aug. 6 and will continue to do so through Aug. 19.

Within the first two days, 5,000 people had crossed. On Aug. 9, their number reached 8,000. The crossing administration expects the number of people crossing into Syria to spend the holiday to reach 40,000. …

The Eid holiday is an opportunity for thousands of Syrian refugees living in Turkey to visit their hometowns and villages they left years ago, and a chance to meet friends and relatives after having been separated for a long time. Some Syrians have not visited Syria for four or five years. …

Syrian refugees residing in Turkey were allowed to enter Syria for the Eid al-Adha from two other crossing points in the Euphrates Shield area in northern and northeastern Aleppo countryside. One of them, the Bab al-Salama crossing, has been open since Aug. 1. By Aug. 16, it had processed 300,032 visitors. The Jarablus crossing opened on the same date and by Aug. 15, 13,194 people had passed through.”

“… artiklen i Al-Monitor underbygger blot en rapport fra FN, som journalisterne heller ikke har fortalt os om: at i de første syv måneder af 2017 var 600.000 syrere rejst tilbage til Syrien. Af dem kunne 97 procent vende tilbage til deres eget hjem, mens tre procent måtte finde andet, midlertidigt logi.” (Morten Messerschmidt, Fyens Stiftstidende, 5. september 2018)