Austria to pay €1,000 each to Syrians wishing to return home

In Austria, Syrians wishing to return to their homeland will be paid €1 thousand each. This was announced by the country's Chancellor Karl Nehammer on December 13.

He noted that Syria, due to the changes taking place there now, needs its citizens to rebuild the country.

"The current asylum procedures for Syrian citizens in Austria are still suspended," Nehammer pointed out on his page in the social network Facebook (banned in Russia, owned by Meta Corporation, recognized as extremist in Russia).

Migration thesis: what awaits Syrian refugees in the EU after Assad's departure

Will they want to return to their homeland under the new government?

Earlier, on December 11, French MP Thierry Mariani told Izvestia that the situation in Syria is likely to be one of the topics of discussion at the plenary session of the European Parliament, which begins on December 16. He called the Europeans naive, thinking that the new Syrian crisis will not cause an influx of Islamists into Europe.

Before that, on December 5, Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova said that 130 children who have confirmed relatives in Russia are ready to return to Russia from Syria. According to her, the commissioner's office has received more than a thousand requests from relatives who are searching for their children in the Arab republic.

The Russian Foreign Ministry reported on December 8 that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, after negotiations with the opposition, left the post of head of state and left the country, instructing to carry out the transfer of power peacefully. On the same day, the national coalition of revolutionary and opposition forces of Syria announced the work on the formation of a transitional authority. In turn, Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi al-Jalali said that most of the ministers of the Syrian government remain in Damascus, and he himself is ready to cooperate with any elected leadership.

Against this backdrop, the IDF announced the deployment of forces along the Syrian border to ensure the safety of Israeli citizens and communities in the Golan Heights. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the demarcation agreement with Syria has been terminated due to the withdrawal of Syrian troops.

The situation in Syria escalated following a major attack by militias in Aleppo and Idlib that began on November 28 and led to a Syrian army response against the militants.