Syrians in the United Kingdom explained

Group:	Syrians in the United Kingdom
Population:	Born in Syria 9,258 (2011 census) 48,000 (2019 estimate) 42,875 (England and Wales only, 2021 census)^[1]
Popplace:	London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool
Langs:	British English, Arabic (variants of Syrian Arabic), Domari, Turkish, Neo Aramaic, Kurdish, Adyghe, Afshar, Turoyo, Armenian
Related:	Other British Arabs, Syrian diaspora

Syrians in the United Kingdom or Syrian Britons are people whose heritage is originated from Syria who were born in or who reside in the United Kingdom.

Demography

The 2011 UK census recorded 8,526 people who stated that they were born in Syria and reside in England; 322 in Wales, 379 in Scotland and 31 in Northern Ireland. The Office for National Statistics estimated that the population stood at 48,000 in 2019.^[2] This increase is due largely to the Syrian refugee crisis.

In the six-year period between 2018 and 2023, 8,581 Syrian nationals entered the United Kingdom by crossing the English Channel using small boats – the fifth most common nationality of all small boat arrivals.^{[3] [4]}

Notable people

Businesspeople

• Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI and co-founder of DeepMind, which Google bought for an estimated £400 million in 2014. He is also the co-founder of Inflection AI.^[5]
• Ayman Asfari, billionaire businessman, former CEO of Petrofac.
• Wafic Said, billionaire businessman, he established the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford in 1996.
• Simon Halabi, property developer. In 2007, he was listed as the 14th richest person in Britain.
• Helly Nahmad, art dealer, he descends from a billionaire family that originated in Aleppo.
• Ronald Mourad, Chairman of The Portland Trust and Bridges Ventures; his parents were originally from Aleppo.
• Kasim Kutay, CEO of Novo Holdings A/S.

Actors and entertainment

• Wentworth Miller, actor, known for his role as Michael Scofield in the Fox series Prison Break
• Patrick Baladi (born 1971), actor and musician, known for his role in the British show ‘The Office’
• Souad Faress (born 1948), actress, best known for her roles in Game of Thrones (season 6) and BBC’s Radio 4 program The Archers.

Artists and designers

• Moussa Ayoub (c.1873–1955), Syrian-born British painter and portraiture artist.^[6]
• Khairat Al-Saleh (born 1940), painter, ceramicist, glassmaker and printmaker
• Nabil Nayal: fashion designer who won the Fashion Trust Grant from the British Fashion Council and the Royal Society of Arts Award

Academia

• Kefah Mokbel, renowned breast cancer surgeon and researcher
• Kamal Abu-Deeb (born 1942), Chair of Arabic at the University of London
• Dennis W. Sciama (1926–1999), British physicist of Syrian-descent who, through his own work and that of his students, played a major role in developing British physics after the Second World War.^{[7] [8]}

Writers and journalists

• Danny Abdul Dayem, citizen-journalist who reported from Homs, Syria between 2011–2012.
• Mai Badr (born 1968), editor-in-chief of Hia Magazine and deputy editor-in-chief of Sayidaty and Al Jamila.
• Abdallah Marrash (1839–1900), Syrian writer involved in various Arabic-language newspaper ventures in London and Paris.
• Mustapha Karkouti: journalist and media consultant
• Nadim Nassar, writer, director of the Awareness Foundation and the only British-Syrian priest in the Church of England
• Rana Kabbani, writer, broadcaster and cultural historian

Other

• Asma al-Assad (born 1975), the First Lady of Syria.^{[9] [10]}
• Kefah Mokbel, breast surgeon and founder of the UK charity Breast Cancer Hope. In November 2010, he was named in the Times magazine's list of Britain's Top Doctors
• Philip Stamma, 18th-century chess master and pioneer of modern chess.
• Sami Khiyami, Syrian diplomat, former Syrian ambassador to London.
• Shaha Riza (born c.1953), a Libyan former World Bank employee.

See also

• Syria-United Kingdom relations
• Islam in the United Kingdom
• Kurds in the United Kingdom
• Turks in the United Kingdom
• British Arabs
• Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Programme

External links

Associations

• Syrian British Medical Society (SBMS)
• Syrian Association for Mental Health (SAMH)
• Syria Legal Development Program (SLDP), London
• Syria Relief, Manchester
• Hand In Hand for Aid and Development
• Syrian Platform for Peace (supported by International Alert)
• The Oxford Kurdish and Syrian Association, Oxford
• Rethink Rebuild, Syrian Community in Manchester
• The Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Country of birth (extended) . Office for National Statistics . 28 March 2023.
2. Web site: ONS estimates for 2019.
3. Web site: Official Statistics: Irregular migration to the UK, year ending December 2022 . gov.uk . Home Office . 23 February 2023.
4. Web site: Statistics relating to the Illegal Migration Act: data tables to December 2023 . gov.uk . Home Office . 2 January 2024.
5. Web site: Mustafa Suleyman . 2024-08-04 . Mustafa Suleyman . en-GB.
6. Web site: Ayoub, Moussa Benezit Dictionary of Artists. www.oxfordartonline.com. 2011. en. 10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.B00009249. 978-0-19-977378-7. 2020-03-16.
7. Web site: PhysicsWorld Archive » Volume 13 » Obituary: Dennis Sciama 1926–1999. Physicsworldarchive.iop.org. 2012-02-28.
8. Web site: PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY VOL. 145, NO. 3, SEPTEMBER 2001. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120221225518/http://www.amphilsoc.org/sites/default/files/311.pdf. 21 February 2012. 2012-02-28. dmy-all.
9. Bar . Shmuel . Bashar's Syria: The Regime and its Strategic Worldview . Comparative Strategy . 2006 . 25 . 5 . 353–445 . 0149-5933 . 26 November 2013 . 10.1080/01495930601105412 . 154739379 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131126160614/http://herzliyaconference.org/_Uploads/2590Bashars.pdf#page=2 . live.
10. News: President Assad's wife banned from travelling to Europe... but not Britain . The Mirror . 23 March 2012 . 17 July 2015.