Syrian diaspora

Syrian diaspora refers to Syrian people and their descendants who chose or were forced to emigrate from Syria and now reside in other countries as immigrants, or as refugees of the Syrian Civil War. The number of Syrians outside Syria is estimated to be from 8 to 13 million, nearly half of the country's population. The UNHCR reports that 4.9 million global refugees in 2015 were Syrian nationals. The Syrian nationality law does not grant diaspora Syrians an automatic right of return to Syria, and under the controversial 2018 Absentees Law, the Assad government confiscated property of millions of Syrians.

Syrian civil war

The Syrian civil war (al-ḥarb al-ʾahlīyah al-sūrīyah) is an ongoing multi-sided civil war in Syria fought between the Syrian Arab Republic led by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad (supported by domestic and foreign allies) and various domestic and foreign forces that oppose both the Syrian government and each other, in varying combinations. Popular discontent with the Ba'athist government led to eruption of large-scale protests, student demonstrations and pro-democracy rallies across Syria in March 2011 as part of the wider Arab Spring protests.

Refugees of the Syrian civil war

Refugees of the Syrian Civil War are citizens and permanent residents of Syria who have fled the country throughout the Syrian Civil War. The pre-war population of the Syrian Arab Republic was estimated at 22 million (2017), including permanent residents. Of that number, the United Nations (UN) identified 13.5 million (2016) as displaced persons, requiring humanitarian assistance. Of these, since the start of the Syrian Civil War in 2011 more than six million (2016) were internally displaced, and around five million (2016) had crossed into other countries, seeking asylum or placed in Syrian refugee camps worldwide.