A new batch of Syrian refugees returned to their home from Lebanon on Monday as caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil is set to discuss this file during an upcoming trip to Russia.
Lebanon's General Security said in a statement Monday that it had "secured the voluntary return of 137 displaced Syrians from the areas of Shebaa and central Bekaa through the Masnaa border crossing towards Syria.”
The National News Agency reported that "several refugees returned to Syria with their own private vehicles" through Masnaa, without giving a figure.
A Lebanese foreign ministry source told Russia’s Sputnik news agency that Bassil will visit Moscow on August 20 to meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
Their discussions will center on Russia’s proposal last month to secure the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland. The proposal will see the establishment of joint logistic centers between Syria’s neighbors, including Lebanon.
Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri’s aide on Russian affairs, George Shaaban, is currently in Moscow to address the Russian plan.
Russian presidential envoy to Syria Alexander Lavrentiev had paid a visit to Lebanon in July where he met with senior officials to explain his country’s initiative.
Since April, more than 2,000 Syrians have headed home from Lebanon in returns coordinated by the authorities in Beirut and Damascus, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
Human rights groups have warned that Syrians returning to their homeland should do so voluntarily and with full knowledge of the risks.
According to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, around 13,000 Syrians went home from Lebanon during the first six months of this year.
Since August 7, Lebanon’s General Security has dedicated 17 centers to receive refugee requests for their voluntary return home.
General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim estimated that some 1.04 million Syrian refugees were in Lebanon, saying many of them have departed to other countries or returned home.
“Wherever they have gone, these are huge figures. I believe that the process of refugees returning to Syria has seriously started,” he added.
The Russian initiative is being implemented, he stated.
The refugees cannot return to their homes without first passing through the authorities at the General Security and the entire process is coordinated with Damascus, Ibrahim explained.
More than 350,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since Syria's war started with the brutal repression of anti-regime protests in 2011.
