Additionally, around 1.7 million internally displaced persons are now believed to have been able to return to their hometowns, as the new transitional government controls large parts of Syria.
It's a dynamic period, says the UN's Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees Kelly Clements, and adds that she sees opportunities for many more to return.
Nearly half a million people have been killed in the Syrian civil war that broke out in March 2011. Over five million have been forced to flee abroad, most of whom have ended up in neighboring countries.
The great hope that arose when al-Assad was overthrown by the then Islamist leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, who is now the country's interim president, is however feared to be fading. Aid organizations have warned that the assistance required from the outside world to stabilize the country is delayed. At the same time, violence has erupted against minorities and old conflicts between certain ethnic groups have flared up again.
