The new Syrian government announced that it intends to strip the Syrian citizenship of 2,243,000, Iranians, Iraqis, Lebanese, Turkish, Jordanian, and Gulf people, as follows :
890,000 Iranian and Iraqi Shiites
783,000 Lebanese
360, 000 Turkish Alawites
210, 000 Gulf Shiites
In order to change the demographics in the mostly Sunni country they were naturalized by Syria’s deposed dictator Bashar al Assad. Not only were they naturalized but they were also given the confiscated homes of the displaced Sunni Syrians according to reports
Throughout the Syrian war, websites opposed to the Assad regime have repeatedly claimed that the regime and its ally Iran were using the war to change Syria’s demographics by expelling Sunni people , deemed a potential threat to the regime, and bringing in Shi’ites, who are more likely to support it. According to these reports, the Assad regime and Iran use a variety of methods – including threats, siege and starving – to compel Sunnis to emigrate and then seize their property and replace them with elements loyal to the regime, including non-Syrians.
President Assad outlined this policy in a July 2015 speech, saying, “The homeland does not belong to those who live there, nor to those who hold a passport or are citizens. The homeland belongs to those who protect and guard it.
On November 17, 2018, the Saudi website elaph.com and the Syrian opposition website nedaa-sy.com posted what they claimed was a letter from the head of Syria’s General Intelligence to Syria’s interior minister. The letter contained a list, provided by the “special office” in the Syrian President’s Office, of Iranians to be granted Syrian citizenship. According to Elaph, this is only one of thousands of documents in its possession indicating “systematic action by the regime to settle Iranians throughout Syria.”