Syrian ambassador to Lebanon calls for refugees to return

Syria’s ambassador to Lebanon has called for Syrian refugees to return home and for the countries hosting them to ease the transition.

As of October 2016, Lebanon hosted 1.5 million Syrian refugees, including 1 million registered with UNHCR, half of them children below 18 years old, along with 31,502 Palestine Refugees from Syria, according to estimates from the Lebanese government.

In October, Lebanese President Michel Aoun said his country can no longer handle vast numbers of Syrian refugees, urging world powers to help the refugees return to the calmer parts of their country.

Ali Abdul Karim told Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil during a meeting on Thursday that certain agreements were being followed up on to help Syrian refugees return, according to a statement released by the minister’s office.

Lebanon and Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, announced after talks last week that they would form a joint committee to facilitate repatriation of Syrian refugees.

“We discussed the Russian initiative, and the positive moves taken towards the Syrian refugees living in Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Europe. The initiative will help ease their return, especially since President Bashar Al Assad is not issuing any barriers to that,” Mr Karim said.

Nearly one million Syrians are registered with the UN in Lebanon, but some officials claim their number is as high as 1.5 million. With the country hosting the highest number of refugees per capita worldwide, Lebanese officials are keen for Syrians to return home.

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