Russia: Nearly 900 Syrians returned home in 24 hours

Some 900 Syrian refugees have returned to their homes from Jordan and Lebanon over the past hours, Russia’s defence ministry announced yesterday.

“Over the past day, in total 884 people returned to the Syrian Arab Republic from the territory of foreign states,” the Ministry’s Centre for the Reception, Allocation and Accommodation of Refugees said.

“341 people, including 103 women and 174 children, had left Lebanon for Syria via the Jaydet-Yabus and Talkalakh checkpoints, while 543 others, including 191 women and 324 children, from Jordan via the Nassib checkpoint,” the centre explained.

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The centre added that other four internally displaced Syrians had returned to their permanent residence in Syria.

The Syrian Engineers Corps, the military centre pointed out, had defused 27 explosive devices in the country over the past 24 hours.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011 when President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests. The war has killed more than 560,000 people, the vast majority by regime-allied forces.

The Al-Assad government has used chemical weapons against civilians on scores of occasions, with tens of thousands in prison facing torture and execution. Despite the regime calling for refugees to return to the country, over one million people are still listed as wanted on government databases, with those Syrians who supported the opposition fearing state reprisals.