No Return to Homs

This report explores the mechanisms and impacts of state-led demographic engineering in Syria through a case study of Homs city, which in 2014 became the first major urban center to succumb to the government’s siege and destroy strategy. The goal of this study is to understand what has happened to Homs city and its displaced residents in order to highlight continuing challenges for the displaced, to identify lessons that can improve the response of international actors, and to better understand the dynamics playing out today in other Syrian cities and towns targeted by the government’s forced displacement strategy.