Lebanese caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil said on Monday that his country was working on ensuring a “fast, secure, honorable and sustainable” return for Syrian refugees back to their homeland.
He said "security now prevails" in most of Syria, making it possible for refugees to return.
He made his remarks after receiving in Beirut his Austrian counterpart Karin Kneissl, who said that the return of refugees, stabilization and reconstruction in Syria must not be rigidly tied to a political process.
The world should seize on "a new dynamic" developing in Syria, she added.
Kneissl stressed that no Syrian refugee will be forced to return, but that Austria will help those willing to return like it did with Bosnian refugees after the end of the conflict there.
Lebanon hosts more than a million Syrian refugees. It has started in recent months a process of returning them to secure areas in their homeland.
Separately, Cypriot police said 34 Syrian migrants who arrived by boat in the east Mediterranean island nation are seeking asylum.
Police said Monday the migrants, including six children and two women, have been taken to a reception center on the outskirts of the capital, Nicosia.
Police said the boat had set sail from Mersin, Turkey, and landed Sunday in ethnically divided Cyprus' breakaway north before the migrants crossed over into the internationally recognized south.
Cyprus is seeking help from the European Union to cope with a burgeoning number of asylum-seekers. Cypriot officials say the country of around a million people nearly tops all EU states for the number of asylum applications relative to its population.
Last month, EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos pledged the bloc's support to Cyprus.
