50,000 Syrians Have Returned Home This Year, Lebanon Says
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Fifty thousand Syrians have returned home from Lebanon so far in 2018 and the number could reach 200,000 in a year’s time if it continues at this rate, a top Lebanese official said.
Abbas Ibrahim, head of Lebanon’s General Security, told Reuters his security agency had organized the return of 25,000 Syrians in coordination with Damascus. Another 25,000 had made their own way home.
Lebanon is hosting 976,000 registered Syrian refugees, according to UN refugee agency UNHCR.
The government says the total number of Syrians in the country is around 1.5 million.
Lebanese politicians have been calling for Syrian refugees to go home as President Bashar Assad wins back more of the country.
Ibrahim is coordinating with Damascus over the return of thousands of Syrians who want to go home. Their names are first sent to Damascus for approval.
Ibrahim said on average 10 percent of them are rejected by Damascus. Anyone wanted by the Syrian authorities is told so they can decide whether to stay or go home to “settle their affairs.”
Ibrahim expected the pace of returns to accelerate when the fate of militant-held Idlib province is settled, noting that many young men did not want to return for fear of being conscripted for a battle in Idlib.
“When there are no longer big military battles in Syria, many young men will return,” Ibrahim said. He said Syrians are given a six-month reprieve from military service “to organize their affairs.”
