Asylum minister Marjolein Faber has rejected a plan by MPs to allow Syrians in the Netherlands to return home temporarily without losing their asylum status.

Parliament voted for the temporary measure to give Syrians the chance to visit their homeland following the downfall of Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship and decide if it was safe enough to live there again.

Opposition group GroenLinks-PvdA secured the support of other parties, including coalition party NSC, for a motion calling on the cabinet to let Syrians make short visits home to assess the situation.

A similar ruling was introduced in the 1990s for Bosnian refugees who were considering returning home following the wars in the former Yugoslav countries.

But Faber said she would disregard the motion, arguing: “If Syrian asylum seekers or people holding limited-term permits return to Syria, are safe there and can then go back safely, that indicates that the fears that led them to seek asylum are no longer relevant.”

Geert Wilders, leader of the far-right PVV party, has repeatedly said Syrians should go home and rebuild their country, while Faber published a flyer encouraging Syrians to claim a free one-way flight before the end of Ramadan.

In reality the situation on the ground is highly volatile, with hundreds of people reported to have been murdered in revenge attacks on Syria’s Alawaite community by militias loyal to the new Islamist government. The government has also come under attack from forces loyal to Assad.