February was marked by the continued displacement of thousands in Iraq and Syria, with the Iraqi Security Forces’ offensive in western Mosul forcing more than 28,000 people to flee their homes in late February. In addition to internal displacement, movement from Iraq towards the Turkish border appears to be in-creasing, with Turkish Land Forces reporting 1,577 apprehensions, more than thirteen times the number reported in January. In Syria, ongoing fighting in Alep-po governorate displaced more than 84,000 people in February, with thousands more displaced by con-flict in Al-Bab, Ar-Raqqa, and Dara’a throughout the month. Apprehensions of people arriving at Turkey’s land borders with Syria increased to 25,329 in Feb-ruary, while construction of a wall at the Turkey-Syria border was reported to be 50% complete. February also saw the lowest number of recorded sea arrivals in Greece since 2015, with only 1,089 people cross-ing amid poor weather conditions in the region. The government of Lebanon introduced a new policy waiving its annual 200 USD residency fee for some Syrian refugees, although many remain ineligible and will not benefit from the change. Camp authorities within Jordan continued to report the ‘spontaneous departure’ of Syrians both to Syria (180 people) and other countries (141), though in smaller numbers than January.
The following sections of this report describe monthly developments related to mixed migration by country, including reported arrivals, departures, internal displacement relevant to cross-border movement, and discussion of relevant policy changes.