BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The European Union on Wednesday issued updated guidance for asylum applications by Syrian nationals that reflects new conditions in Syria a year after the fall of the Bashar Assad. The changes may influence the result of asylum requests of some 110,000 Syrians who were still awaiting an asylum decision at the end of September.
The European Union Agency for Asylum said opponents of Assad and military service evaders “are no longer at risk of persecution."
But the agency said other groups may be considered at risk in the post-Assad Syria, including people affiliated with the former government and members of the Alawites, Christians, and Druze ethnic-religious groups.
While decisions on asylum applications are made at a national level, the agency's guidance is used to inform the 27 EU member states, as well as Norway and Switzerland. The goal is to create greater coherence between the 29 nations granting international protection.
The number of Syrians requesting asylum dropped significantly from 16,000 in October 2024, before the fall of Assad, to 3,500 in September 2025. Still, Syrians had the most number of cases awaiting a decision at first instance.
Syria’s conflict that began in March 2011 killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million. More than 5 million Syrians fled the country as refugees. While most sought refuge in neighboring countries like Turkey, many also went to Europe, contributing to the continent's refugee crisis in 2015.
Between 2012 and June 2025, EU member states plus Norway and Switzerland granted refugee status to around 704,900 applicants from Syria in first instance decisions, according to the European asylum agency.
The EUAA said the situation in Syria is “considered improved but volatile" since Assad's fall in December 2024, and that “indiscriminate violence continues to take place" in certain parts of Syria.
Many Syrians had high hopes after Assad was brought down in an offensive by insurgent groups in early December. However, sectarian killings against members of Assad’s Alawite minority sect in Syria’s coastal region and against the Druze minority in the southern province of Sweida earlier this year has claimed hundreds of lives.
Still, the agency said it now considers Damascus, the capital, to be safe.
The agency also cited two other groups living in Syria who should remain eligible for refugee status: LGBTQ+ people and Palestinians in Syria who no longer receive United Nations assistance or protection.
Since the fall of Assad in December, more than one million people have returned to Syria and nearly 2 million internally people have returned to their regions, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Follow AP’s global migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration
FILE - Refugees from Syria arrive at the train station in Dortmund, Germany, Sept. 6, 2015. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts' highest court heard oral arguments Friday in the state's lawsuit arguing that Meta designed features on Facebook and Instagram to make them addictive to young users.
The lawsuit, filed in 2024 by Attorney General Andrea Campbell, alleges that Meta did this to make a profit and that its actions affected hundreds of thousands of teenagers in Massachusetts who use the social media platforms.
“We are making claims based only on the tools that Meta has developed because its own research shows they encourage addiction to the platform in a variety of ways,” said State Solicitor David Kravitz, adding that the state's claim has nothing to do the company's algorithms or failure to moderate content.
Meta said Friday that it strongly disagrees with the allegations and is “confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.” Its attorney, Mark Mosier, argued in court that the lawsuit “would impose liabilities for performing traditional publishing functions” and that its actions are protected by the First Amendment.
“The Commonwealth would have a better chance of getting around the First Amendment if they alleged that the speech was false or fraudulent,” Mosier said. “But when they acknowledge that its truthful that brings it in the heart of the First Amendment.”
Several of the judges, though, seem to more concerned about Meta's functions such as notifications than the content on its platforms.
“I didn't understand the claims to be that Meta is relaying false information vis-a-vis the notifications but that it has created an algorithm of incessant notifications ... designed so as to feed into the fear of missing out, fomo, that teenagers generally have,” Justice Dalila Wendland said. “That is the basis of the claim.”
Justice Scott Kafker challenged the notion that this was all about a choose to publish certain information by Meta.
“It's not how to publish but how to attract you to the information,” he said. “It's about how to attract the eyeballs. It's indifferent the content, right. It doesn't care if it's Thomas Paine's ‘Common Sense’ or nonsense. It's totally focused on getting you to look at it."
Meta is facing federal and state lawsuits claiming it knowingly designed features — such as constant notifications and the ability to scroll endlessly — that addict children.
In 2023, 33 states filed a joint lawsuit against the Menlo Park, California-based tech giant claiming that Meta routinely collects data on children under 13 without their parents’ consent, in violation of federal law. In addition, states including Massachusetts filed their own lawsuits in state courts over addictive features and other harms to children.
Newspaper reports, first by The Wall Street Journal in the fall of 2021, found that the company knew about the harms Instagram can cause teenagers — especially teen girls — when it comes to mental health and body image issues. One internal study cited 13.5% of teen girls saying Instagram makes thoughts of suicide worse and 17% of teen girls saying it makes eating disorders worse.
Critics say Meta hasn't done enough to address concerns about teen safety and mental health on its platforms. A report from former employee and whistleblower Arturo Bejar and four nonprofit groups this year said Meta has chosen not to take “real steps” to address safety concerns, “opting instead for splashy headlines about new tools for parents and Instagram Teen Accounts for underage users.”
Meta said the report misrepresented its efforts on teen safety.
Associated Press reporter Barbara Ortutay in Oakland, California, contributed to this report.
FILE - Attendees visit the Meta booth at the Game Developers Conference 2023 in San Francisco on March 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
