Fears for Syria’s Palestinians after US calls for ‘deportations’ following Sharaa-Trump meeting

A human rights group focused on the welfare of Palestinians in Syria has raised the alarm about a statement issued by the White House following a meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Syrian counterpart Ahmed Al-Sharaa in Riyadh.

After the meeting, Trump announced that he would be lifting crippling US sanctions on Syria but the White House statement urged the Syrian leadership to deport Palestinians involved in “terrorist activities” without naming any specific individuals or organisations.

The Action Group for Palestinians of Syria said that the US was using “vague terms” like “Palestinian terrorists”, without giving any precise description or legal framework.

“Are we talking about internationally designated armed elements? Or is the classification subject to US political discretion? Or does it simply open the door to collective measures that could affect thousands of innocent people?” it said in a statement.

Syria hosted around 630,000 Palestinian refugees before the conflict there broke out in 2011 but their numbers have fallen to around 440,000, after many fled the country due to war, with many also being killed.

There are also a number of Palestinian armed groups present, and the Assad regime imposed a starvation siege and later destroyed the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus after Syrian rebels took control of it in 2012.

“Palestinians in Syria today live in deteriorating conditions: collapsing infrastructure, a lack of services, widespread poverty, and the absence of a political horizon,” the Action Group said in their statement.

“For camp residents, talk of "deportation" does not seem theoretical; Rather, it is a bleak scenario looming on the horizon, especially since many of them lack official papers, no alternative country to receive them, and no legal system to protect them from arbitrary decisions,” it added.

The new Syrian authorities recently arrested officials from Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a pro-Iran group, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC), which was pro-Assad, after the Trump administration indicated that favourable relations with Syria depended on “banning” Palestinian groups.

There have also been reports of meetings between Syrian and Israeli officials in the UAE and Azerbaijan, among ongoing Israeli incursions into Syrian territory and the still-present threat of Israeli airstrikes.

The Action Group noted in their statement that the Syrian government had not commented on the latest American request to deport “Palestinian terrorists”, and said that Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa “may not be in a position that allows him to confront Washington directly”.

However it warned that this silence could be a prelude to the “widespread” targeting of Palestinians in Syria who survived the country’s brutal conflict but “remain trapped in its crisis”.