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Arab League mission arrives in embattled Syrian city of Homs

An Arab League mission arrives in Homs amid reports of escalating violence. The team is in Syria to assess if the government is upholding commitment to end its crackdown.

(CNN) Cairo - Members of an Arab League observatory team have arrived in the besieged Syrian city of Homs, a senior official in the league's advance delegation to Syria said Tuesday.

The fact-finding team is visiting Syria this week to assess whether the government is upholding a commitment to end a brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters.

Observers from the team "will have access to any place they want, freely," said the senior official, who did not want to be identified because he is not authorized to speak with the media. "The protocol entails that Syrian security only escorts the monitors to the entrances of the city only. According to the protocol, any party on the ground has the right to contact the monitors as they please."

But shortly before the arrival, military forces began scurrying away from Homs' Baba Amr neighborhood, said resident and activist Omar al-Humsi. Baba Amr has been wracked with deadly violence at the hands of the Syrian regime, opposition activists say.

Al-Humsi estimated more than 2,000 people joined a sit-in waiting for the arrival of the Arab League team.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

A New Survey Of Ukrainian Refugees: Here's What Will Bring Them Back Home

With the right support, Ukrainians are ready to return, even to new parts of the country where they've never lived.

photo of people looking at a destroyed building with a wall containing a Banksy work

People look at a Banksy work on a wall of a building destroyed by the Russian army, in the town of Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv.

Sergei Chuzavkov / SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire
Daria Mykhailishyna

After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, millions of Ukrainians fled their homes and went abroad. Many remain outside Ukraine. The Center for Economic Strategy and the Info Sapiens research agency surveyed these Ukrainian war refugees to learn more about who they are and how they feel about going home.

According to the survey, half of Ukrainians who went abroad are children. Among adults, most (83%) are women, and most (42%) are aged 35-49.

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Most Ukrainian refugees have lost their income due to the war: 12% do not have enough money to buy food, and 28% have enough only for food.

The overwhelming majority of adult refugees (70%) have higher education. This figure is much higher than the share of people with higher education in Ukraine (29%) and the EU (33%).

The majority of Ukrainian refugees reside in Poland (38%), Germany (20%), the Czech Republic (12%), and Italy (6%). In these countries, they can obtain temporary protection, giving them the right to stay, work, and access healthcare and education systems.

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