Syrian Refugees Return Home from Turkey

The number of Syrian refugees in Turkey fell to around 8,500 as hundreds decided to return home over the weekend, Turkish officials said Monday.

Some 238 Syrians went back to their country over the last two days, lowering the total number of refugees in Turkey to 8,579, the country's disaster and emergency management agency said on its website.

Among the refugees still remaining, 103 of them are being treated in hospital, while eight are staying in a women's shelter, the agency said.

The number of refugees fleeing the Syrian government's bloody crackdown and entering Turkey peaked at 11,739 at the end of June, when Syrian troops stormed border villages where many displaced people had massed.

They are living in six camps run by the Red Crescent in the southern Hatay province.