Thousands of refugees return to Syria from Lebanon

More than 4,100 refugees have returned to Syria from Lebanon since July 18, most of them crossing through Zemrani border crossing point, the head of the Center for Refugee Reception, Distribution and Accommodation, Major General Alexei Tsygankov, said.

He said 348 refugees arrived from Lebanon on July 30. “No Syrian citizens have gone through the checkpoints on the Syrian-Jordanian border,” he told a session of the headquarters coordinating the refugee return.

According to the center, 4,174 refugees have returned from Lebanon between July 18 and now. Almost 2,900 of them crossed into Syria trough Zemrani check point. A total of 318 people have crossed into Syria from Jordan through the Nasib checkpoint over the same period of time.

Over the past few months, the Syrian army has won a string of major victories over IS extremists outside Damascus and in the south of the country, winning back most of its territory. The issue of returning refugees home has surfaced to the forefront after the Russian-US summit in Helsinki on July 16. Last week, the subject of bringing home the refugees was at the center of attention of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov during their unannounced visits to Israel, Germany and France.