UK Government Pauses Decisions on Syrian Asylum Claims After Assad’s Ousting

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper delivers her speech during the Labour Party Conference, at the Arena and Convention Centre in Liverpool, England, on Sept. 24, 2024. Peter Byrne/PA Wire

The UK Home Office has paused the processing of asylum claims from Syrian nationals, following the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad.

British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said decision-making would be put on hold while events unfold in Damascus, following the lead from other countries like Austria, Germany, Sweden, and France.

Cooper said on Monday: “We know the situation in Syria is moving extremely fast after the fall of the Assad regime. We have seen some people returning to Syria. We also have a very fast-moving situation that we need to closely monitor.

“And that is why like Germany, like France and like other countries, we have paused asylum decisions on cases from Syria while the Home Office reviews and monitors the current situation.”

A Home Office spokesman added that the department would keep “all country guidance relating to asylum claims under constant review so we can respond to emerging issues.”

Asylum Claims

Millions of Syrians have left their country in the 13 years since the start of the civil war, and the UK has granted refugee status to thousands of them in the past decade.

Latest Home Office figures show 5,548 Syrians applied for asylum in the year to September 2024 and 4,069 were granted protection in that same period.

Applications from Syrians represent the fifth-largest number of asylum claims in the year to September 2024, behind Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Bangladesh. Some 99 percent of claims from Syrians are granted refugee status at the initial decision.

According to a House of Commons Library research briefing from September, between 2014 and June 2024, the UK has resettled around 20,000 Syrians through various schemes.

The EU has also accepted a large number of Syrians, with the nationality topping the list for asylum applications in 2023, at 186,580 across the bloc’s 27 nations.

In the House of Commons on Monday evening, Foreign Secretary David Lammy appeared unaware of the government’s decision that same day to suspend processing asylum claims.

Asked by Reform UK Deputy Leader Richard Tice whether the UK would follow Germany’s lead and pause applications, Lammy replied: “I have to say that that has not been put to me in the last few hours. The issue that’s been put to me is the humanitarian need in country, the humanitarian support for neighbours.”

Asma al-Assad ‘Not Welcome’

The Assad regime collapsed over the weekend, following more than a decade of civil war which was triggered by the 2011 Arab Spring. On Sunday, rebels led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took over Syria’s capital city of Damascus, marking an end to 54 years of rule by the Assad family.

Russian state media confirmed that the 59-year-old former president has been granted political asylum in Moscow, along with his wife Asma al-Assad and their three children.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy at a press conference during a visit with U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, to Kyiv, Ukraine, on Sept. 11, 2024. Leon Neal/PA Wire

Responding to further questions in the Commons on the Syria situation, Lammy said that Asma al-Assad—who was born and educated in London—is a “sanctioned individual and is not welcome here in the UK.”

The foreign secretary made the remarks in response to questions over whether, as a British citizen, the former Syrian president’s wife may attempt to return to the UK.

Lammy’s comments follow Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer saying it was too early to say whether the government would strip Asma al-Assad of her citizenship.

Proscribed Group

There was also apparent confusion in the government over how to deal with Islamist group HTS, the rebels who have taken control of Syria.

Starmer said on Monday during a diplomatic visit to Saudi Arabia that there was “no decision pending at all” on whether to remove HTS from the list of banned groups.

The remarks follow comments from Cabinet Minister Pat McFadden, who had suggested earlier that day that the decision on how to treat HTS would be looked into.

On Tuesday, Downing Street said that HTS being a proscribed terrorist group “does not prevent the Government from engaging with HTS in the future.”

The prime minister’s spokesman said that engagement “could for example include meetings designed to encourage a designated group to engage in a peace process or facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid.”

“More broadly we keep proscriptions under review and we’re obviously monitoring the situation closely,” the spokesman said.

HTS began as al-Nusra Front, an affiliate of al-Qaeda and was banned in the UK for its association with the Osama bin Laden-founded group. HTS’s leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani is a former al-Qaeda commander but says he renounced ties with the terror group years ago.

In 2014, al-Golani said he wanted to see Syria governed under Islamic law and that there was no room for Christian, Druze, Alawite, and Shiite minorities. He has since attempted to present his group as moderate and inclusive.

PA Media contributed to this report.