In support of Lebanese efforts to coordinate a mass return of refugees to the war-torn nation, dozens of Syrian refugees arrived in their home country today, Saturday, coming from Lebanon in the second convoy in less than two weeks.
The official Lebanese National News Agency said that “voluntary return” on Saturday included 330 Syrians who left the Bekaa Plain to the Qalamoun area, western Syria.
Qalamoun, which borders Lebanon, has long been the scene of some of the worst fights in the 11-year-old Syrian conflict.
On October 26, some 500 Syrian refugees travelled from Lebanon to Syria, making them the first people to do so in more than two years.
Many Syrian refugees decided to return home after living in Lebanon for years after being impacted by the historic economic collapse of the nation, which plunged three-quarters of Lebanese into poverty.
Some Lebanese lawmakers have attributed the economic issue to the refugees since it began in late 2019.
More over a million Syrian refugees have found safety in Lebanon, however many believe the figure to be substantially higher.
At the request of the Lebanese government, the United Nations Refugee Commission ceased its census in 2015 after recording around 825,000 Syrians.
A plan to return 15,000 migrants each month was made public by officials earlier this year, but it has not yet been carried out.
Lebanon started planning “voluntary return” journeys in 2018.
Syrian security officers checked the list to see if anyone on it was wanted or posed a security threat to Damascus as the Syrians were registering to return. The first selection was whittled down to the final names after some of these names were rejected.
The United Nations affirms that Syria is not a secure location for a mass return, and the returnees are only a small portion of the enormous number of refugees who are still in Lebanon.
Hector Hajjar, the minister of social affairs for Lebanon, stated to reporters on Saturday that the returnees had obtained guarantees from both the Syrian and Lebanese governments that they would be allowed to return. The international community, he continued, must support such a return; otherwise, they should “remain neutral in this circumstance.”
During the Korona virus outbreak in 2020, return voyages were discontinued.
By that point, 21,000 Syrian refugees have used this method to leave Lebanon and return to Syria, according to Lebanese authorities.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 76,500 Syrian refugees have voluntarily left Lebanon since 2016; some have done so on government-organized excursions, while others have done so on their own.
Since the conflict in Syria broke out in March 2011, more than half of the 23 million people living there have been displaced.
From Lebanon, dozens of Syrian refugees return to their homes.
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