Report: LF Has a Plan for Return of Displaced Syrians

A plan for Syrian refugees in Lebanon to return to their homeland has been prepared by the Lebanese Forces who stressed that coordination between the Lebanese and Syrian governments to that end must never happen, al-Joumhouria daily said on Wednesday.

Lebanese Forces sources told the daily that raising the issue of coordination between the two governments must be drawn out from circulation “the subject is highly controversial. This proposal restores national divisions. There is no possibility of dialogue on this point. In our point of view the Syrian government does not exist.”

The sources said the Syrian regime is trying to “legitimize itself through the Lebanese gate” by raising the issue of refugees “mainly that it has lost its Arab, International and Syrian legitimacy.”

“We can never negotiate with a state that has been isolated at the Arab, International and Syrian levels, not to mention that the Syrian government is to blame for their displacement,” they added.

The sources remarked that “Lebanon was very keen to provide shelter, peace and safety for the refugees, and is keen today for their safe return home. The Lebanese government must assume its responsibility and ask the United Nations to implement the decision on the ground in Syria by placing them in safe zones.”

“It is time they return home,” affirmed the sources and added “We are preparing a plan for their return that will be discussed during the cabinet meeting.”

In June, over 400 Syrian refugees residing in the northeastern Lebanese border town of Arsal returned to Syria.

Nearly half a million displaced Syrians have returned to their homes since the beginning of the year, mainly to find family members and check on property, the UN refugee agency had said.

Since January, about 440,000 people who had been displaced within the war-ravaged country had returned to their homes, mainly in Aleppo, Hama, Homs and Damascus, Andrej Mahecic, a spokesman for the agency, known as the UNHCR, told reporters in Geneva.

In addition, around 31,000 refugees in neighboring countries had also returned, he said, bringing to 260,000 the number of refugees who have returned to the country since 2015.

Lebanon, a country of just four million people, hosts more than one million refugees who fled the conflict that has ravaged neighboring Syria since 2011.

The influx has put added strain on Lebanon's already frail water, electricity and school networks.

The World Bank says the Syrian crisis has pushed an estimated 200,000 Lebanese into poverty, adding to the nation's one million poor.