As departures accelerate, communities welcoming returnees face mounting pressure, while rebuilding homes and essential services remains crucial to making returns sustainable.
More than 1.38 million internally displaced Syrians have left camps and other temporary shelters since December 2024, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
As reported by the Syrian state agency SANA.
As of August 2026, the number of people in UN-monitored shelters had fallen from about 2.2 million to 773,000. In July and August, 38,836 people left these sites, including nearly 19,600 who received assistance to return home. More than 60,000 people received this support in the first eight months of the year.
During July and August, 130 temporary shelters closed. Meanwhile, communities hosting displaced people are facing increased pressure on essential services.
Conditions for sustainable returns
In a number of areas, homes, roads, bakeries, healthcare and education facilities, as well as water, electricity and irrigation networks, are being restored. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, sustainable returns require continued infrastructure reconstruction, access to basic services and livelihoods.
The figures were released as part of the government’s “Syria Without Camps” initiative. It aims to support the voluntary and sustainable return of people to their homes and land. The initiative was presented by Syria’s Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management, Raed al-Saleh, at the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Thus, the decline in the number of people living in shelters is accompanied by a need to rebuild infrastructure and support the communities to which displaced people are returning.
More than 1.38 million displaced Syrians have left camps since late 2024, UN says