Syria’s president says US pressure obstructing return of refugees | Al Jazeera

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has blamed US sanctions and pressure on the United Nations and Syria’s neighbours for the reticence of more than five million refugees who fled the conflict there to return.

“There are many hurdles,” al-Assad said on Wednesday, citing US sanctions at the opening of a conference in Damascus, co-hosted by Moscow, that has been boycotted by Washington, the European Union, and most of Syria’s neighbours that host the bulk of its 5.6 million refugees.

Of Syria’s 17 million people, 5.5 million are living as refugees in the region, mostly in Turkey, and a further six million are uprooted within their own country.

Al-Assad said millions of refugees were being forced to stay in host countries by “pressure or intimidation”, and host states were enticing them financially while benefitting from international aid for them.

Western countries and all of Syria’s neighbours, with the exception of Lebanon, say conditions are not safe for the voluntary return of refugees, many of whom fled from Russian and the Syrian government bombing of their towns during the course of the decade-old conflict.