Amnesty International Says Syria Still Not Safe for Returnees to Go Back To

Syrian refugees gather near trucks, as they prepare to go back home to Syria, in the eastern Lebanese border town of Arsal, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Syrian refugees gather near trucks, as they prepare to go back home to Syria, in the eastern Lebanese border town of Arsal, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
TT

Amnesty International Says Syria Still Not Safe for Returnees to Go Back To

Syrian refugees gather near trucks, as they prepare to go back home to Syria, in the eastern Lebanese border town of Arsal, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Syrian refugees gather near trucks, as they prepare to go back home to Syria, in the eastern Lebanese border town of Arsal, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Amnesty International said that Lebanon’s decision to resume the “voluntary return” of Syrian refugees to their homeland is “worrying” in light of the difficult circumstances these refugees are enduring in the crisis-hit country.
On X social media platform, the organization said that Lebanon has adopted a series of measures that aim at pressuring the refugees into returning to their country, and has imposed new restrictions regarding their residency, work and transportation.
Amnesty said that such measures raise concerns about the Syrian refugees’ ability to “freely consent” to their return back to war-torn Syria.
According to Amnesty, Syria is still an unsafe country for refugees to return to. It said that refugees detained in Syria were subjected to “torture, ill-treatment, including beatings and sexual violence”.
Amnesty also stated that Lebanon must respect its international obligations and humanitarian rights and halt the collective return of Syrian refugees.



Israel Says Apprehended Members of Iran-backed Cell in Syria

06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
TT

Israel Says Apprehended Members of Iran-backed Cell in Syria

06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Israel's military said Monday it had apprehended members of an Iran-backed cell in southern Syria, the second such operation it has announced in the past week.

Since the December overthrow of Syria's longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes primarily on military sites and carried out cross-border ground raids.

In a statement, the military said troops "completed an overnight operation to apprehend a cell that was operated by the Iranian Quds Force in the Tel Kudna area of southern Syria."

"For the second time in the past week... troops completed a targeted overnight operation and apprehended several operatives who posed a threat in the area," the statement added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Israeli forces raided early Monday a village in the Quneitra countryside of southern Syria and "carried out searches targeting several homes, which ended with the arrest of two brothers".

On Wednesday, Israel's military said its forces had apprehended members of an Iranian-backed "terrorist cell" in southern Syria and seized weapons.