The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Deporting Syrians from Lebanon | First batch of refugees arrive in Syria in coordination with regime government

Homs province: SOHR activists have reported that the first batch of families of displaced Syrians residing in Lebanon arrived in Syria this morning via Al- Dabbousah crossing in western Homs countryside.

Deporting Syrians was preceded by preparations by the regime government, which brought in three ambulances from the Health Directorate in Homs, and a committee to document the number of refugees returning from Lebanon.

According to SOHR sources, the number of families who returned to Syria in this first batch is nearly 200 families of nearly 1,000 people, mostly women and children, while young people preferred not to return home for fear of forcing them to perform “compulsory service.”

According to reliable sources, a large section of the returning families were resident in areas held by Lebanese Hezbollah militia, such as Sour, Al-Nabatiyeh and Al-Dahyah Al-Janobiyah.

As registration of Syrian refugees wishing to return to Syria in these areas was opened, many families living in the refugee camps in A’arsal refused to return to Syria despite clamping down on them by reducing water and food allocations, and waging occasional arson attacks on Displaced people’s tents.

Syrian refugees in Lebanese Hezbollah-controlled areas in Lebanon are subjected to harassment to force them to sign up for ‘voluntary return’ such as threatening to suspend leases to residents outside the camp and racist treatment on a daily basis by a wide range of residents there.

It is worth noting that Lebanese President Michel Aoun had previously stated that the process of returning Syrian refugees to Syria would begin on Wednesday, and the Syrian refugees’ file would end forever.