The first group of Syrian refugees returns home from Lebanon under the new United Nations plan

Jdeidet Yabous, Syria – Jdeidet Yabous, Syria (AP) – The first group of Syrian refugees He returned home from Lebanon on Tuesday under a new plan that put the United Nations with the Lebanese government yet The fall of Bashar al -Assad’s rule In December.

The Syria uprising, which has turned into displacement from half of the country’s population before the war of 23 million people over the past 14 years. Lebanon hosted an estimated 1.5 million refugees, at some point, constitutes nearly a quarter of six million people, as many were smuggled across the border and were not registered with the United Nations.

The new plan contains the United Nations Refugee Agency, which provides $ 100 in cash for every Syrian refugee that is returned to the homeland and the Lebanese authorities that give up any fees or fines owe it. The UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration will be provided for the return trip.

The Commission also says it will help the Syrians “grant cash, legal assistance to civil documents, psychological and social support, opportunities for livelihoods, and other protection services.”

The Lebanese authorities have repeatedly requested the return of Syrian refugees over the years, an invitation that has grown with a higher voice Poverty is widely in the country of the Mediterranean and Funding for relief agencies. But Syria, during the Assad era, was not yet safe to return, according to major rights organizations.

Many Syrians had previously said that the war, forced recruitment under the previous government in Syria, and unpaid residence fines in Lebanon had prevented them from returning.

But Syria now has a new government During the era of President Ahmed Al -SharraWhich led the sudden attack that Assad overthrew, and the government of the Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam hopes that the Syrians registered in the return plan to the common homeland.

UNHCR estimates that more than 205,000 Syrians have crossed the country from Lebanon since December, at least 126,000 full returns have been confirmed.

Refugee spokeswoman Lisa Abu Khaled says that about 17,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon have already participated to return to their homeland, although the vast majority have chosen not taking buses.

She said that the restoration of the homeland on Tuesday was a “experimental tour”, with only 72 people, from the third largest city in Syria and the Damascus countryside defense.

The Syrian border authorities received refugees returning with flowers and water bottles, as they fill the shapes after leaving the bus. Some took pictures in front of the new green flag in Syria. Among them was Rasha, who told the Associated Press that she had been returning for the first time in 14 years.

She said: “We are going back to the house without anything, but it is easier than having to continue paying the rent,” using only her first name. She and her husband are heading to the pores.

Before, you will not leave because her children were in the age of recruitment, which she described as “sending your son to his death.” They were also unable to pay all fines in exchange for exaggeration in Lebanon for 14 years.

Ragad escaped to Lebanon when she was ten years old after her father was killed in his hometown, and he returns for the first time to her family’s home with her brothers and children. She said, “We hope to repair it so that we can live there a little.” “I cannot imagine myself to live there without my father.”

Although Washington lifted decades -long sanctions, Syria is still suffering from an economic crisis that prompted the vast majority of its population to poverty. He is also still trying to rebuild hundreds of billions of dollars in the infrastructure that was beaten after the conflict. Abu Khaled, a spokesman for the Lebanese Commission, warns that this may hinder long -term returns if they are not resolved soon.

“We must admit that there is a real humanitarian crisis in Syria that is still very important,” she said. “Millions of people will need urgent help to be able to return in a sustainable way.”

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I informed Shaib from Beirut.