Damascus/Beirut on August 16 : Syrian and Lebanese officials have discussed ways to help facilitate the daily return of 15,000 Syrian refugees to their homelands. Syrian Minister of Local Administration and Environment Hussein Makhlouf held a meeting in Damascus on Monday with visiting Lebanese Minister of the Displaced Issam Charafeddine, in the meeting, they discussed the measures that were taken by Syria to ensure a secure and speedy return home for refugees according to a timeline established by the two countries, Xinhua news agency reported using local media reports.
“Lebanon and Syria both agree on the need to make it easier for the return of all refugees to their homelands not just 15,000 per month as is stated in the plan laid out by the Lebanese side,” Makhlouf told a joint press conference with the Lebanese Minister.
The Syrian government has committed to provide basic services, including accommodation, transportation medical care, accommodation and even education for Syrian refugees who wish to return, said Makhlouf.
He said that the Syrian army has brought stability and security to vast swathes of territories in the last few years and that the government has allowed the return home of four million internally displaced persons and 1 million refugees from overseas.
He also urged UN organizations to become “an active participant in the return of the displaced, and especially when Syria is willing to cooperate with Lebanon and other countries to assist in the return of all those who are people who have been displaced, and giving them an active part in the process of rebuilding”.
In his own words, Charafeddine said “we discussed our plan in detail with Syrian authorities who were willing to accept all refugees and promised to provide them with the necessary facilities” according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.
The Lebanese officials are planning to visit Syria in the near future to the coordination of their return with Syrian authorities, he added.
Charafeddine also had an additional session with Syrian Interior Minister Mohammad Khaled Al-Rahmoun at which point he said the Damascus government permits those with of expired passports to come back home and also to register the births of children born abroad.
Al-Rahmoun said that the immigration centers in Syrian border crossings were linked with the central database of civil affairs in order to provide returning refugees with required documents upon their arrival in the country.
This month Charafeddine has stated that Lebanon will implement its plans regardless of the UN position since the country is suffering from an unprecedented financial crisis, and the flood of refugees has had a significant impact on the infrastructure and economy.
Lebanon is the only country to host the highest quantity of refugees per per capita in the world, with an estimated 1.5 million Syrians and 13,715 of other nationalities.
The UNHCR representative in Lebanon has resisted the plan of the country with the reason that Syria isn’t safe for refugees returning to the country.
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