00:00The European Union has issued updated guidance for asylum applications by Syrian nationals
00:08that reflects new conditions in Syria a year after the fall of former long-time leader Bashar al-Assad.
00:15The changes may influence the result of asylum requests of some 110,000 Syrians
00:21who were still awaiting an asylum decision at the end of September.
00:24When Syria's civil war started in 2011, 23 million people were displaced
00:31and 5 million Syrians fled to neighboring countries and Europe.
00:36The number of Syrians requesting asylum dropped significantly from 16,000 in October 2024
00:44before the fall of al-Assad in December to 3,500 in September 2025.
00:50The European Union Agency for Asylum said opponents of al-Assad and military service evaders
00:57are no longer at risk of persecution.
01:00But the agency said other groups may be considered at risk in the post-Assad Syria,
01:05including people affiliated with the former government and members of the Alawites,
01:10Christians and Druze ethnic religious groups.
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