Damascus creates body to repatriate refugees

DAMASCUS: Syria’s government is to set up a coordination committee to repatriate millions of its nationals who fled the country’s sevenyear conflict, state media has said. The cabinet on Sunday “agreed to create a coordination body for the return of those displaced abroad to their cities and villages,” state news agency SANA reported.

The conflict has displaced more than five million Syrians outside the country, the United Nations says, with more than half displaced to Turkey and most of the rest split between Lebanon and Jordan. The committee “will take the necessary measures to settle the status of all those who were displaced and secure their return as security and basic services return to different regions”, SANA said on Sunday. It would take steps towards “ensuring they can lead normal lives and practice their jobs as before the war” started in 2011, it added.

The coordination body is to “intensify contact with friendly countries to provide all facilitations and take suitable steps towards their return”, SANA said. President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime has pushed back rebels and jihadists in large parts of Syria since its ally Russia intervened militarily on its side in 2015. Last month, Russia presented the United States with plans for the coordinated return of refugees to Syria.

The proposal includes the establishment of working groups in both Lebanon and Jordan, involving US and Russian officials. Also in July, Russia’s chief Syria negotiator Alexander Lavrentyev visited Damascus, Amman and Beirut. According to the Syrian presidency, Assad told Lavrentyev that “Syria is bent on all its children returning”.

In comments to the Russian media, Assad appealed for Syrian refugees — especially those who had their own businesses in the country — to return. Countries hosting Syrians, including Turkey and Lebanon, have stressed the need for the return of refugees to Syria, while human rights groups have warned that this should be done on a voluntary basis.