Families take a break on the road at the entrance of Homs as buses and trucks carrying displaced Syrians returning home after years of displacement in the northern Aleppo province arrive to the outskirts of the central Syrian city. AFP
Assad was toppled in December in a rebel offensive, putting an end to his family's decades-long grip on power in the Middle Eastern country and bookmarking a civil war that broke out in 2011, with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
Syria's war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions from their homes.
The Islamist-led insurgents whose offensive ousted Assad have sought to assure the international community that they have broken with their past and will respect the rights of minorities.
"Since the fall of the regime in Syria we estimate that 280,000 Syrian refugees and more than 800,000 people displaced inside the country have returned to their homes," Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, wrote on the X social media platform.
"Early recovery efforts must be bolder and faster, though, otherwise people will leave again: this is now urgent!" he said.
At a meeting in Paris in mid-February, some 20 countries, including Arab nations, Turkey, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Japan agreed at the close of a conference in Paris to "work together to ensure the success of the transition in a process led by Syria".
The meeting's final statement also pledged support for Syria's new authorities in the fight against "all forms of terrorism and extremism".
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