By Karolina Tagaris , Edward McAllister and Riham Alkousaa ATHENS/BERLIN (Reuters) - Najem al-Moussa was delighted when news of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's overthrow first beamed from the television in his tiny Athens apartment.

A growing number of European countries said they would stop processing asylum claims, and some want to pressure Syrians to leave.

As Syria enters the post-Assad era, EU policymakers need to learn from their failed approach to the country's civil war. The post Europe Needs to Update Its Thinking for a Post-Assad Syria appeared first on World Politics Review.

Some European countries are freezing asylum applications for people from Syria in the wake of the fall of its regime.

The decision affects tens of thousands of open claims and reflects rising support across Europe for right-wing parties opposed to immigration

Several countries, including France and Germany, have announced that they are suspending decisions on asylum applications from Syria. Far-right parties, meanwhile, have re-opened a political and legal debate on refugee deportation.

While governments urge caution, calls are rising across Europe for Syrians who fled the Assad regime to return.

STORY: Najem al-Moussa and his family have been glued to the news of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's overthrow in their tiny Athens apartment.Although delighted he is gone, Moussa now fears his family will be forced to return to the devastated country they fled in 2015.

Syria has produced the largest number of migrants in Europe, the eighth annul report on asylum rights by the Catholic Migrantes Foundation said Wednesday. "Unfortunately, the Syrian situation has recently returned to the forefront,

After over a decade of conflict, the Syrian Civil War seems to be over. In a handful of days, the forces of Bashar al-Assad have collapsed and he has fled to Moscow. Across Britain and Europe, many in the Syrian diaspora have celebrated in our streets.