Syrian Refugees Return Home as Lebanese Repatriation Scheme Begins

Syrian refugees gather near trucks, as they prepare to back home to Syria, in the eastern Lebanese border town of Arsal, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. (AP)
Syrian refugees gather near trucks, as they prepare to back home to Syria, in the eastern Lebanese border town of Arsal, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. (AP)
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Syrian Refugees Return Home as Lebanese Repatriation Scheme Begins

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

Hundreds of Syrian refugees living in Lebanon returned home on Wednesday, the first day of repatriations organized by Beirut, amid concerns from rights groups that the scheme may involve elements of coercion.

Lugging suitcases, power generators, fridges and even chickens, around 700 Syrians who had agreed to cross over gathered from early morning in a desolate northeastern border zone.

Lebanese authorities say the repatriations, under a revived program run coordinated by the country's General Security agency, are voluntary.

But while frontlines in Syria's 11-year war are largely becalmed, the United Nations says flare-ups in violence and the risk of detention make it still unsafe for large-scale returns.

Lebanon is home to more than 800,000 Syrians registered with the UN refugee agency. They fled the violence in the aftermath of protests against Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in 2011. At its peak, Lebanon hosted around 1.2 million.

In 2018, the General Security agency launched a mechanism through which any Syrian refugee could signal a desire to return home, liaise with Syrian authorities to make sure that individual was not wanted there.

That pathway saw around 400,000 Syrians return home but was put on hold with the outbreak of COVID-19. Outgoing Lebanese President Michel Aoun revived it this month and it resumed on Wednesday.

Much of Syria remains in ruins, with private homes and public infrastructure, including power and water services, devastated.

Amnesty International had warned that returning refugees may not have accurate or complete information on the level of risk in their hometowns, meaning the returns may not be "free and informed."



Israeli Troops, Palestinian Fighters Clash in West Bank after Incidents Near Settlements

Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 31 August 2024. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 31 August 2024. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
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Israeli Troops, Palestinian Fighters Clash in West Bank after Incidents Near Settlements

Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 31 August 2024. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 31 August 2024. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH

Clashes broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters in the occupied West Bank on Saturday as Israel pushed ahead with a military operation in the flashpoint city of Jenin.
Israeli troops searched areas around Jewish settlements after two separate security incidents on Friday evening. In Jenin itself, drones and helicopters circled overhead while the sound of sporadic firing could be heard in the city, said Reuters.
Hundreds of Israeli troops have been carrying out raids since Wednesday in one of their largest actions in the West Bank in months.
The operation, which Israel says was mounted to block Iranian-backed militant groups from attacking its citizens, has drawn international calls for a halt.
At least 19 Palestinians, including armed fighters and civilians, have now been killed since it began. The Israeli military said on Saturday a soldier had been killed during the fighting in the West Bank.
The Israeli forces were battling Palestinian fighters from armed factions that have long had a strong presence in Jenin and the adjoining refugee camp, a densely populated township housing families driven from their homes in the 1948 Middle East war around the creation of Israel.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Saturday a child had been taken to hospital in Jenin with a bullet wound to the head.
The escalation in hostilities in the West Bank takes place as fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas group still rages in the coastal Gaza Strip nearly 11 months since it began, and hostilities with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in the Israel-Lebanon border area have intensified.
Late on Friday, Israeli forces said two men were killed in separate incidents near Gush Etzion, a large West Bank settlement cluster located south of Jerusalem, that the military assessed were both attempted attacks on Israelis.
In the first, a car exploded at a petrol station in what the army said was an attempted car bombing attack. The military said a man was shot dead after he got out of the car and tried to attack soldiers.
In the second incident, a man was killed after the military said a car attempted to ram a security guard and infiltrate the Karmei Tzur settlement. The car was chased by security forces and crashed and an explosive device in it was detonated, the military said in a statement.
The two deaths were confirmed by Palestinian health authorities but they gave no details on how they died.
Troops combed the area following the two incidents. Security forces also carried out raids in the city of Hebron, where the two men came from.
Hamas praised what it called a "double heroic operation" in the West Bank. It said in a statement it was "a clear message that resistance will remain striking, prolonged and sustained as long as the brutal occupation's aggression and targeting of our people and land continue".
The group, however, did not claim direct responsibility for the attacks.
Israeli army chief General Herzi Halevi said on Saturday Israel would step up defensive measures as well as offensive actions like the Jenin operation.
Amid the gunfire, armored bulldozers searching for roadside bombs have ploughed up large stretches of paved roads and water pipes have been damaged, leading to flooding in some areas.
Since the Hamas attack on Israel last October that triggered the Gaza war, at least 660 Palestinian combatants and civilians have been killed in the West Bank, according to Palestinian tallies, some by Israeli troops and some by Jewish settlers who have carried out frequent attacks on Palestinian communities.
Israel says Iran provides weapons and support to militant factions in the West Bank - under Israeli occupation since the 1967 Middle East war - and the military has as a result cranked up its operations there.