The United Nations refugee chief says some 200,000 refugees have returned to Syria from neighboring countries since the government of Bashar Assad was overthrown last month.

UN High Comissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi called on Western governments Saturday to lift their sanctions against Syria, describing them as an "obstacle" to the return of millions of refugees.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has urged for the removal of Western sanctions on Syria, describing them as a key obstacle to the

The UN refugee agency says 200,000 Syrians have already returned home since the fall of Bashar Assad. But Western sanctions still in place are an "obstacle" to the return of millions of refugees.

Syria’s new administration leader Ahmed al-Sharaa met in Damascus on Saturday with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi. The state news agency SANA said the meeting was also attended by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani, without giving details about the content of their talks.

Returning the roughly six million Syrians who fled abroad and the millions who became internally displaced has been a main aim of Syria's new administration

Despite the recent political shift in Syria with Bashar Assad's government overthrow, around 200,000 refugees have returned home. UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi emphasizes the need for economic and infrastructural reform to sustain this return.

Filippo Grandi, stated that over 450,000 Syrians have returned to their homes during the Lebanese crisis. He emphasized the need to support these returns and reaffirmed that they are inevitable. Grandi described his meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun as positive,

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi called Thursday for cooperation between Syria's new authorities, host countries and donors to secure the return of 6.2 million Syrian refugees to their country.

Almost 30% of the millions of Syrian refugees living in Middle Eastern countries want to return home in the next year, following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, up from almost none last year, the head of the U.