It has now been one year since the Islamist, Al Qaeda-linked rebels of Ahmed al-Sharaa entered Damascus and put an end to 53 years of Assad family rule. The fall of Damascus came as the unsurprising culmination of a lightning rebel offensive that had begun just a week and four days prior. It was, perhaps, one of the most stunning reversals of political fortune in history—few would have imagined, even a month before, how weak the Ba’ath government really was. The main regional players were caught off guard: shortly before the events that brought about his downfall, Assad had been triumphantly received by his old nemesis, Saudi Arabia, in a spectacular show of reconciliation after over a decade of civil war. For countless anti-Assad, Islamist-sympathising Syrians living in Europe, the whole affair must have appeared miraculous.
This week, celebrating the first anniversary of the historical event, Europe’s streets were indeed overtaken by multitudes of joyous, revolutionary flag-wielding Syrians. There have been marches and speeches from London to Paris and Berlin, including invasions of Christmas markets and trampling on Christmas trees by joyous protesters. Yet the cautious observer would be forgiven for wondering what all these people are doing in Europe at all. For one and a half decade, Europeans were told that the reason 1.4 million Syrians could not return to their country was the barrel bombs of the tyrant Assad. Now, however, there are no barrel bombs—the conflict ended with the complete, unmistakable victory of the cause most Syrian refugees to Europe have cheered before and after Assad’s exit.
Perhaps the least credulous among us were left unsurprised by the gap between those expectations and actual, discernible reality. In the first year of Syrian freedom, remarkably few Syrians living in Europe have been keen to enjoy the fruits of revolution. Though over 700,000 Syrians have settled in Germany, a meagre 20,000 have returned to Syria from December 2024 to August 2025. However, those settling in Germany were around 40,000, meaning more still came in than left. So much for the magical notion that refugees would leave as soon as the war ended.
Of course, there are Syrians in genuine, immediate need of assistance. Until the Islamist-led uprising began, fifteen years ago, some 10% of the Syrian population was Christian. Since then, that figure has fallen to 2% at best. Having inaugurated its hold on power by conspicuously flying a Taliban-inspired Shahada flag over Syria’s cities, the new Damascus is fiercely Christophobic. Dozens of faithful were slaughtered by Sharaa’s protégés at Saint Elijah’s Church in the Syrian capital last June. There have been countless reports of massacres, kidnappings, and illegal arrests in the country’s “Valley of Christians.” Thousands of non-Sunni Syrians were slaughtered in a series of massacres by Sahara’s forces in March. The wave of terror has forced many into hiding or exile, as europeanconservative.com has reported. Those parading from the safety of European cities in commemoration of Syria’s Islamist regime are either turning a blind eye to these horrors or actively celebrating them. Either way, they shouldn’t be here.
Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long for the globalist, pro-immigration machine to start spinning after Sharaa took hold of Damascus. The Institut Jacques Delors has been hard at work explaining how the return of Syrian refugees to Syria isn’t that good of an idea after all, Bashar or no Bashar. But the truth of the matter is that Europe has little need for hundreds of thousands of Sharaa fans. Those Syrians who are fond of Islamist rule can and should be able to enjoy their preferred model of political organisation—in their own homeland.
European governments certainly have the means to locate those Syrians who, being Christian, are both rightfully apprehensive about returning and Europe’s civilisational duty to protect. Similarly, it should not be too difficult to find their countrymen who extol, from the comfort of their computer screens and the generous quiet of European cities, the sanitised Al Qaeda that has come to dominate poor, ancient Syria. The time has come for those to return to their land.
One Year After the Fall of Damascus, It Is Time for Syrians in Europe To Go Home
Syrians in Germany celebrate the fall of the Assad Regime, 8 December 2024.
Shark1989z, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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It has now been one year since the Islamist, Al Qaeda-linked rebels of Ahmed al-Sharaa entered Damascus and put an end to 53 years of Assad family rule. The fall of Damascus came as the unsurprising culmination of a lightning rebel offensive that had begun just a week and four days prior. It was, perhaps, one of the most stunning reversals of political fortune in history—few would have imagined, even a month before, how weak the Ba’ath government really was. The main regional players were caught off guard: shortly before the events that brought about his downfall, Assad had been triumphantly received by his old nemesis, Saudi Arabia, in a spectacular show of reconciliation after over a decade of civil war. For countless anti-Assad, Islamist-sympathising Syrians living in Europe, the whole affair must have appeared miraculous.
This week, celebrating the first anniversary of the historical event, Europe’s streets were indeed overtaken by multitudes of joyous, revolutionary flag-wielding Syrians. There have been marches and speeches from London to Paris and Berlin, including invasions of Christmas markets and trampling on Christmas trees by joyous protesters. Yet the cautious observer would be forgiven for wondering what all these people are doing in Europe at all. For one and a half decade, Europeans were told that the reason 1.4 million Syrians could not return to their country was the barrel bombs of the tyrant Assad. Now, however, there are no barrel bombs—the conflict ended with the complete, unmistakable victory of the cause most Syrian refugees to Europe have cheered before and after Assad’s exit.
Perhaps the least credulous among us were left unsurprised by the gap between those expectations and actual, discernible reality. In the first year of Syrian freedom, remarkably few Syrians living in Europe have been keen to enjoy the fruits of revolution. Though over 700,000 Syrians have settled in Germany, a meagre 20,000 have returned to Syria from December 2024 to August 2025. However, those settling in Germany were around 40,000, meaning more still came in than left. So much for the magical notion that refugees would leave as soon as the war ended.
Of course, there are Syrians in genuine, immediate need of assistance. Until the Islamist-led uprising began, fifteen years ago, some 10% of the Syrian population was Christian. Since then, that figure has fallen to 2% at best. Having inaugurated its hold on power by conspicuously flying a Taliban-inspired Shahada flag over Syria’s cities, the new Damascus is fiercely Christophobic. Dozens of faithful were slaughtered by Sharaa’s protégés at Saint Elijah’s Church in the Syrian capital last June. There have been countless reports of massacres, kidnappings, and illegal arrests in the country’s “Valley of Christians.” Thousands of non-Sunni Syrians were slaughtered in a series of massacres by Sahara’s forces in March. The wave of terror has forced many into hiding or exile, as europeanconservative.com has reported. Those parading from the safety of European cities in commemoration of Syria’s Islamist regime are either turning a blind eye to these horrors or actively celebrating them. Either way, they shouldn’t be here.
Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long for the globalist, pro-immigration machine to start spinning after Sharaa took hold of Damascus. The Institut Jacques Delors has been hard at work explaining how the return of Syrian refugees to Syria isn’t that good of an idea after all, Bashar or no Bashar. But the truth of the matter is that Europe has little need for hundreds of thousands of Sharaa fans. Those Syrians who are fond of Islamist rule can and should be able to enjoy their preferred model of political organisation—in their own homeland.
European governments certainly have the means to locate those Syrians who, being Christian, are both rightfully apprehensive about returning and Europe’s civilisational duty to protect. Similarly, it should not be too difficult to find their countrymen who extol, from the comfort of their computer screens and the generous quiet of European cities, the sanitised Al Qaeda that has come to dominate poor, ancient Syria. The time has come for those to return to their land.
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