NNA - Austria on Monday said it was suspending all Syrian asylum applications and wanted to deport refugees back to Syria, a day after Islamist-led rebels swept into Damascus, ending ousted president Bashar al-Assad's brutal rule.

Some 100,000 Syrians live in Austria, one of the biggest diaspora populations in Europe, with thousands waiting for asylum applications to be approved.

Conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer on Monday instructed the interior ministry "to suspend all ongoing Syrian asylum applications and to review all asylum grants," the ministry said in a statement.

"From now on, open (asylum) proceedings of Syrian citizens will be stopped," it said.

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner added he has "instructed the ministry to prepare an orderly repatriation and deportation programme to Syria". -- AFP

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