Syrian migrants in northern Europe said they are still aiming to reach British shores as the prospect of returning to their war-torn homeland remains too dangerous amid the instability following the downfall of President Bashar al-Assad.

It comes as the UK and several European countries suspended Syrian asylum applications with the world waiting to see whether a caretaker government established by Islamist group Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) can steady the nation. 

Wrapped up against the cold in northern France, Syrian migrant Ali said that while he was delighted to hear Assad had been toppled, he was still determined to cross the sea to England.

‘I was happy when Bashar al-Assad left, he’s a criminal,’ he said near the tent where he spent a bitter night in the port city of Calais.

‘Nobody wanted him in power anymore,’ said the 23-year-old, who did not give his surname for his safety.

‘But the situation in Syria remains confused and the general atmosphere is chaotic,’ he told an AFP reporter.

Syria’s interim prime minister, HTS’ Mohammed al-Bashir, has called for Syrians abroad to return to their homeland to help rebuild it and vowed that all citizens of all religions and minorities will be safe.

But migrants told reporters in Calais they are still set on reaching England where ‘there is work, there is peace, there is everything we need’.

HTS, the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) and other groups swept into Syria’s capital Damascus this weekend, ending more than five decades of brutal rule by the Assad family.

The government fell more than 13 years after Assad’s crackdown on anti-government protests ignited Syria’s civil war, killing more than half a million people and forcing half the country to flee their homes with millions of Syrians now spread throughout the Middle East and Europe. 

European countries one by one announced this week they were suspending all Syrian asylum applications and placing active cases under review in the immediate aftermath of the Assad regime collapse.

But Ali, who hails from the Syrian region of Daraa that in 2011 was the first to rise up against Assad and has been hoping to cross the Channel for two months, was undeterred.

‘It’s very bad news, but it won’t stop us,’ he insisted. ‘We want to continue to go to England because we’re looking for peace.’

He went on: ‘If the situation improves in Syria, we’ll go back.

‘Everyone dreams of going home, but for now, the situation remains too uncertain, the leaders come from a background linked to terrorism.’

HTS, which led the rebels that ousted Assad, has promised to protect minorities and respect people’s rights having sought to moderate their rhetoric.

But it has its roots in the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda and Western governments have proscribed it as a ‘terrorist’ organisation.

Another Syrian, 32-year-old Fares, also wondered how the rebels would govern. He, too, refused to give his second name.

‘No one knows what will happen now in Syria,’ he said.

‘What are the cultural foundations of those who are now in power? We don’t know.’

But ‘in Britain, we can offer ourselves and our children a future. There is work, there is peace, there is everything we need,’ he said.

The United Kingdom has sought to stem migrant arrivals via the Channel in recent years.

Nearly 34,000 migrants of different nationalities have landed in Britain on overcrowded dinghies since January, and at least 70 people have died attempting the perilous crossing, the deadliest year on record.

But the country has granted thousands of Syrians asylum since the civil war erupted 2011.

Between 2011 and 2021, nearly 31,000 Syrians obtained asylum in the United Kingdom, according to the UK House of Commons.

In 2023, just over 3,000 Syrians sought asylum in the United Kingdom, according to the Home Office.

Even with decisions on claims now paused for Syrians, Fares said he had no other option.

‘We are relieved that Bashar al-Assad is gone, but there is no stability or security in Syria at the moment,’ Fares said.

His fears are likely justified.

Although the caretaker government appears to have assumed power without fuss and has begun rolling out aid to major cities, this belies what is unfolding elsewhere across Syria.

There are makings of a new civil war in the north as Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) militants streamed into Kurdish-held areas.

Widespread reports claimed the SNA was ransacking Kurdish homes while shocking videos emerged that appeared to show Turkish-aligned rebels executing wounded Kurdish soldiers as they lay in hospital beds in the town of Manbij.

Meanwhile, Israel is conducting widespread airstrikes and bombing campaigns while advancing troops and tanks far into the buffer zone separating Syria from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

And other reports claim ISIS fighters have captured and executed Syrian government forces as they fled the HTS onslaught through the Homs desert.

The joy of Germany’s Syrian refugees rejoicing the end of Assad’s rule this weekend quickly died down as leading lawmakers began calling for them to be deported. 

Hours after Syrians jubilantly took to the streets in several German cities on Sunday, leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party Alice Weidel declared anyone celebrating ‘a free Syria evidently no longer has a reason to flee’.

‘He should return to Syria immediately,’ she said bluntly in a public statement shared on social networks. 

On Monday, prominent conservative lawmaker Jens Spahn told Germany’s N-TV: ‘For everyone who wants to go back to Syria, we will charter planes for them, they will get a starting fund of 1,000 euros (£824).’

Similar sentiments were expressed by far-left leaders and politicians in equal measure.  

In 2015, then-Chancellor Angela Merkel was lauded for opening Germany’s borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing war-torn Syria, coining the now infamous slogan: ‘We will manage it’.

Nearly a decade later, German lawmakers across the political spectrum are highly critical of Merkel’s altruism and are pushing for a crackdown on immigration, which has become a hot-button topic among voters with an election approaching.

Official figures show that, at the end of October, there were nearly 975,000 Syrian nationals in Germany.

This is the highest concentration of Syrian refugees in Europe – only Turkey, which is partially in southern Europe and borders Syria, hosts more.

Nearly a decade after he arrived in Germany from Syria and became famous for snapping a selfie with Merkel, Anas Modamani has finished his university studies and lives in Berlin.

The 27-year-old is now a fully naturalised German citizen – but the talk of Syrians being swiftly removed from Germany has hit hard.

‘I think that’s a terrible idea,’ he said of the proposal to offer Syrians €1,000 to leave.

‘The situation in Syria is still just as dangerous as before. Berlin has become my second home, I will definitely stay here,’ Modamani told an AP reporter yesterday. 

Meanwhile, the European Union on Wednesday gave the green light to Poland and other countries on Europe’s eastern flank to temporarily suspend asylum rights when they believe that Belarus and Russia are ‘weaponising’ migrants to destabilise the bloc.

Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced plans in October to introduce a law that would suspend asylum applications for up to 60 days as his country struggles with migratory pressures on its border with Belarus, angering human rights groups. The freeze has not yet been enacted.

The number of migrants arriving at the borders of EU member states from Belarus has increased by 66% this year, compared with 2023. Belarus authorities are accused of helping migrants to get into Europe, including by supplying them with ladders and other devices, according to the European Commission.

The EU’s executive branch also accuses Russian authorities of ‘facilitating these movements, given that more than 90% of migrants illegally crossing the Polish-Belarusian border have a Russian student or tourist visa.’

It said that ‘in view of the serious nature of the threat, as well as its persistence,’ EU member countries can temporarily suspend a migrant’s request for international protection in exceptional circumstances. Some migrants are accused of attacking border guards.

The commission monitors EU laws to ensure that they are respected. The right for people to seek asylum when they fear for their lives or safety in their home countries is encoded in the bloc’s legislation and international law.

European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen said a freeze on asylum rights should only be used ‘when the weaponisation is posing security threats for member states and exceptional measures are needed.’

Member states would be permitted to restrict a migrant’s access to asylum rights, but only under ‘very strict conditions and in legal limits,’ she said. ‘So it means that they have to be truly exceptional, temporary, proportionate and for clearly defined cases.’

Virkkunen, who declined to provide details, said the commission is providing 170 million euros ($179 million) to Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and non-EU country Norway to boost their border defences, including upgrading electronic surveillance equipment, installing mobile detectors, improving telecommunication networks, and countering drones that might be sent into EU airspace.