Syrian Regime Approves Return of New Wave of Qusayr Residents
Arab World
Damascus - Asharq Al-Awsat
The Syrian regime’s security agencies approved on Sunday the return of a new wave of Syrian refugees from Qusayr in Homs province. Media activist and journalist Ahmad al-Qaseer, who is following the conditions of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, wrote on his Facebook page that the regime agreed for the return of 1,200 families to Qusayr in two batches. The first group would include 790 families or 3,594 persons and the second would be made up of 410 families, whose names is expected to be issued on Wednesday, he said. Syria's military retook Qusayr, a strategic town near Lebanon's border, in June 2013 after a blistering assault led by Hezbollah fighters. People from Qusayr told Asharq Al-Awsat that most residents had applied for a demand to return to their town. “Around 1,000 people were granted the permit in July, while two days ago, Syrian security bodies offered permits for more than 3,500 others,” they said. Sources explained that most of these refugees had left Qusayr between 2011 and 2012 to Homs, east and west Qalamoun, Hasya’, Shansar and Jandar in the countryside of Homs. According to the sources, only a small number of refugees, mostly public servants, were allowed to return to the area in the past years. As for families who had left Qusayr to Lebanon, the sources estimate their numbers to be in the tens of thousands, mostly living in camps under dire economic and social conditions. Despite their requests, Qusayr residents displaced to Lebanon, have so far been denied to return. “Not more than 170,000 Syrian refugees have returned home from Lebanon, which hosts around one million refugees,” the sources explained, adding that none had returned to Qusayr, which lies around 10 kilometers from the Lebanese border.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1924841/syrian-regime-approves-return-new-wave-qusayr-residents
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