by Dana Halawi
BEIRUT, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Em Ahmad, a Syrian refugee from Aleppo, is happy to be returning back from Lebanon to her house in Syria.
"I have been in Lebanon for four years now and I have been waiting impatiently for this moment," Em Ahmad told Xinhua on Thursday.
She said that the situation in Syria has become much better and most of her family have returned.
"I wish for all Syrians to go back to their country very soon," Em Ahmad added, who came to Bourj Hammoud on Thursday to join a group of Syrian refugees to go back to Syria.
Around 1,700 Syrian refugees returned to their homeland on the same day from different areas in Lebanon including Tripoli, Sidon, Nabatieh, Shabaa, Bourj Hammoud and Masnaa, according to Elnashra, an online independent newspaper.
The return was coordinated by Lebanon's General Security in the presence of humanitarian organizations who offered the needed support for refugees.
"I want to thank Lebanon's General Security for their great coordination and support which is facilitating the process of our return," Em Ahmad said.
Mariam Al-Chazli said that she is willing to go back home after spending six years in Nabatieh, south of Lebanon.
"It is enough to stay outside our country for a long period. We want to go back," she was quoted as saying by the National News Agency (NNA).
As for Hosniya Hajj Ali, she told NNA that she wants to kiss Syria's soil after she returns back.
"At least I can work with my family in agriculture," said Qusay, who has lands that he can harvest to generate regular income and feed his family.
"I am going voluntary without any pressure at all because I miss my country and I cannot find consistent work in Lebanon," Qusay, who came from Homs province in central Syria, told Xinhua.
Qusay believes that it is better to go back and live with his parents and the rest of his family.Qusay added that he is only concerned about the possibility that the government may force the returning citizens to perform the military service.
Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel Karim Ali confirmed late last year that the Syrian government is offering lots of facilities for refugees' return to Syria.
"The government is offering facilities to encourage refugees to return home. Even those who did not do the military service will not be forced to join," the ambassador said.
More than 1 million Syrian refugees are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Lebanon. The government estimated that the true number of Syrians in the country at 1.5 million.
To facilitate the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland, Russia drafted a strategy for this purpose and presented it to the Lebanese authorities.
The strategy aims at securing the return of 890,000 refugees to Syria.
In last December, Lebanese General Security Chief Abbas Ibrahim said that about 110,000 Syrian refugees had returned from Lebanon in 2018, according to Local TV channel MTV.
Moreover, the State Ministry for the Displaced in Lebanon has lately initiated a direct dialogue with the Syrian regime to facilitate the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland.
