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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syrian Government Calls on Refugees to Return Home |
| 2018-07-04 |
| [AnNahar] The Syrian government on Tuesday called on refugees to return, saying it has successfully cleared large areas of "terrorists." The rare appeal reflects the government's growing confidence after more than seven years of war. While officials usually appeal to Syrians abroad to return during television appearances and interviews, this is the first formal appeal broadcast on official media. Syrian government forces, with crucial support from Russia and Iran, recently retook large areas near the capital, Damascus, and are waging a new offensive in the south that U.N. officials say has displaced more than 270,000 people. The government currently controls over 61 percent of Syria, compared to early 2017, when it held just 17 percent, according to the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which closely monitors the conflict. The government refers to all rebels as "terrorists." Over 5.6 million Syrians have fled the country. The Foreign Ministry says many internally displaced have already returned home, urging refugees to do same. Many Syrians are unable to return because their homes were destroyed in the fighting, or because they fear military conscription or retribution from government forces. Also on Tuesday, a senior U.N. official visited a Paleostinian refugee camp in Damascus that government forces recaptured in May. The Yarmouk camp, a built-up residential area once home to tens of thousands of Paleostinians and Syrians, was held by Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... group and other "The scale of the destruction in Yarmouk compares to very little else that I have seen in many years of humanitarian work in conflict zones," said Pierre Krahenbuhl, the commissioner-general of the U.N. agency for Paleostinian refugees. The camp, once home to 160,000 Paleostinian refugees, now lies in ruins. Krahenbuhl, on a three-day visit, also met with displaced Paleostinian refugees in areas around Damascus. They expressed "anxieties" about the prospects of their return and reconstruction, he said. Krahenbuhl said U.S. funding cuts had created "the largest ever funding shortfall in UNRWA's history." The agency has a deficit of $446 million, he said, and has since mobilized to raise $200 million through other donors. He said the priority is to keep schools around Syria open for Paleostinian refugees. UNRWA provides basic services to Paleostinian refugees from what is now Israel and their descendants, who now number around 5 million and are scattered across the Paleostinian territories, Leb, Syria and Jordan.null Report: French Source Says Syria Doesn’t Want Refugees Back [AnNahar] The Syrian regime "does not want the return of Syrian refugees" after turning down requests of several hundreds seeking to go back to their hometowns, the pan-Arab al-Hayat daily reported on Monday. "Leb has become certain now that the Syrian regime doesn’t really want the refugees' return. The Syrian regime has not given them permits that allow their return," a French source told the daily on condition of anonymity. The source said the issue was highlighted during talks between French Deputy Diplomatic Advisor Aurelien Lechevallier and the President’s chief adviser Mireille Aoun. "Some 3000 displaced are able to go back to Syria and the United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... High Commissioner for Refugees said they can return to Qalamon. But, the Syrian regime is not giving permits. It allowed only 200 to return while giving some women permits to return, excluding the men," he added. "Gay Paree realizes how big the burden of Syrian refugees is no Leb, but it also believes that the Syrian regime does not want that," stressed the source. On Sunday, around 70 Syrian refugees have returned to their war-torn homeland from Leb as part of a repatriation program the Lebanese government says is voluntary. The National News Agency reported the return on Sunday, after an earlier group of some 400 Syrians went back last week. The refugees registered with Lebanese authorities, who provided buses to take them across the border. Damascus has approved the return of 450 refugees from Leb from a list of 3,000 requesting to do so. Leb hosts just under one million registered refugees from the conflict in neighboring Syria, although authorities say the real number is much higher. As some battlefronts in Syria's devastating seven-year war have quietened, Lebanese officials are ramping up demands that refugees go home. The repatriations come amid a dispute between the government of Leb and the U.N.'s refugee agency, which Beirut accuses of trying to discourage refugees from going home. UNHCR rejects the charges. Syria Installs Barbwire in Border Area to Prevent Illegal Crossing [AnNahar] The Syrian army has installed barbwire along the Lebanese-Syrian border next to the Matrabeh border crossing and the Lebanese town of al-Qasr, Leb's National News Agency said. NNA said the measure is aimed at preventing individuals from crossing the border on foot. "The movement of the residents of the neighboring towns has become restricted to the legal border crossings that are limited to the Joussiyeh crossing near the town of al-Qaa, which puts burden on Lebanese citizens residing in Syrian border towns," NNA said. It noted that the Lebanese citizens who shuttle between Leb and Syria's border towns include "dozens of employees" who work in Leb. According to the agency, the region's dignitaries have renewed their call for setting up a legal border crossing in the area. |
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