More than 100,000 Syrian asylum cases pending in EU

More than 100,000 asylum requests by Syrian citizens were pending across the EU at the end of October, official data showed Wednesday, with applications frozen in multiple member states following the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

Greece became the latest EU nation to suspend Syrian asylum decisions Wednesday, mirroring steps by Germany and Italy among others in the days since an Islamist-led rebel offensive ended the Assad clan's decades-long rule.

In data shared with AFP ahead of publication, the EU's asylum agency said that across the bloc there were just over 108,200 applications from Syrian nationals awaiting a first instance decision at the end of October.

The agency noted however that some applicants may have filed claims in several countries as they moved within the 27-nation EU.

The war in Syria -- unleashed by Assad's bloody crackdown on protests in 2011 -- helped spark a migrant crisis that saw over one million people arrive in Europe in 2015.

The following year, EU nations granted refugee status to more than 215,000 applicants, while nearly 185,000 received subsidiary protection -- meaning they do not qualify as refugees but are considered at risk of serious harm if returned to their country of origin.

The vast majority of the nearly 128,500 applications by Syrian nationals decided at first instance between January and October this year resulted in some form of protection, the asylum agency data showed.

EU nations granted refugee status in just under 35,500 cases, while more than 81,800 applicants were granted subsidiary protection.

Germany, which has taken in the lion's share of Syrian asylum seekers in Europe, accounted for almost half the positive decisions so far this year, the agency data showed.

Streams of refugees have been heading back home across the border from neighbouring countries, as Syrians celebrate what they hope will be the end of over 13 years of civil war.

But profound suspicions still surround Syria's new would-be leaders: the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (HTS) that spearheaded the takeover is listed as a "terrorist" organisation by some Western governments.

Regardless, Austria has signalled it would soon return refugees to the war-ravaged nation, with far-right politicians elsewhere making similar demands at a time when immigration has become a hot-button issue across the continent.