Syrians say Belarus deported them even though they're wanted by Assad's regime

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/24/ [login to see] /belarus-poland-border-deported-syria-migrants
When the Syrian migrants spotted Belarusian officials arriving at their hostel in Minsk, they knew their hopes of a better life in the West were over. Seven managed to escape through the windows. The rest were rounded up, brought to the lobby and had their passports taken from them.

They were among thousands of migrants lured into the country with travel visas and the understanding that they would be able to reach the European Union. But now they were given an ultimatum: Book a flight out of Belarus — the officials didn't care where to — or be put on a plane to Syria.

Some of the Syrians in the group described these scenes to NPR earlier this month. "These were our choices," one of the migrants recalls, speaking by phone from Damascus. "If we refused to cooperate they said we'd be arrested and forcibly deported back to Syria anyway."

After engineering a migrant crisis at the borders of the EU, Belarus is now seeking to send those who failed to cross into Poland or other EU countries back to where they came from — often with little regard for their safety, say migrants and human rights groups.