By Thompson ABISOLA
Eight buses carrying 137 Syrian refugees, who had fled across the border to Lebanon, went back to Syria on Monday, the National News Agency reported.
The returnees, who had been living in the Lebanese border villages of Shebaa and al-Arqoub, will mainly go back to areas surrounding the capital Damascus, according to a Lebanese security source.
The Lebanese Security General Department said that they had secured the “voluntary return’’ of the Syrians towards the Syrian border in coordination with the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR).
In recent months, hundreds of Syrian refugees have been repatriated from Lebanon as the war winds down in their homeland. Lebanon is currently hosting some one million Syrians.
Lebanese officials have repeatedly said the influx of refugees from Syria has placed a massive burden on the country’s economy.
Russia, a major military ally of the Syrian Government, announced it is coordinating with Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey to facilitate the return of refugees to Syria.
More than five million Syrians have fled the country since the conflict began more than seven years ago, according to estimates by the UN.
