At 6 a.m., returnees gathered at various meeting points across the country, in Abboudieh, Al-Qaa, Burj Hammoud, Masnaa, Nabatieh, Sidon and Tripoli, before boarding buses and setting off under the supervision of General Security officials and members of the UN refugee agency UNHCR, the Daily Star reported.
Since May 2018, Lebanon’s General Security has been registering Syrian refugees who are willing to return and organizing their transportation back to Syria in coordination with Syrian authorities, who in some cases may reject a potential returnee.
The agency announced in late March that 172,046 Syrian refugees had returned to their country from Lebanon since December 2017.
That number includes not only those who took part in voluntary return trips organized by General Security but also those who made the trip back on their own.