UK joins several other European countries in pausing all decisions on Syrian asylum claims

The UK government has announced it is suspending all Syrian asylum claims - just a day after the Assad dynasty was toppled in Syria.

There are around 30,000 Syrian nationals living in the UK, a relatively small amount compared with many European countries.

The government’s decision to pause asylum claims followed the same decisions by Germany, which has taken in nearly a million Syrians fleeing the country’s war, and other European countries including Greece, Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium.