(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian activists voiced concern about the fate of the Syrian refugees returning from Lebanon after a statement by the Lebanese Caretaker Minister for Refugee Affairs who assured that 20 Syrian refugees who had returned from Lebanon to Syria had been killed by regime forces.
“The lives of Syrian refugees returning from Lebanon to areas controlled by the Syrian regime are in danger,” Mouin Merehbi said, according to The Daily Star.
He relayed specific information about three who he said had reentered the country eight months ago and were killed Sunday.
Two of the three were 13 and 14 years old; the third was their father, who was around the age of 50.
“The information received ... also shows they were killed by a senior official in the Syrian regime’s army,” Merehbi said.
He added that about 55,000 Syrian refugees had returned since July - a number that contrasts with that announced Friday by General Security, which put the number of returnees at almost 90,000 during the same period. He went on to criticize what he called a lack of coordination between General Security and his ministry, according to The Daily Star.
The head of the Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Research, Anwar al-Bunni, warned of the unknown fate of Syrian refugees, urging the International community to save lives of the returnees who were subjected to an arrest by the Syrian regime.
Al-Bunni confirmed that there were raids by groups of the Hezbollah militia last Thursday on a number of workshops in the Arab Basalim region, and more than 10 Syrian youths were kidnapped to an unknown destination.
Al-Bunni asserted via his his Facebook page that the regime policy is a breach to international and humanitarian laws.
The prominent dissident said the Lebanese authorities have the full responsibility for the lives of the Syrians in Lebanon and for the life of those who forced them to return to the criminal regime.
The security agency has been organizing what it says are voluntary returns of Syrian refugees since earlier this year.
Most of the refugees are from the western Qalamoun region, after the Lebanese security ensured the safe transfer of the refugees from Arsal to the Lebanese-Syrian border.
The Lebanese General Security established centers to register refugees after outlining conditions for returnees who are in violation of residency requirements, including lifetime bans on many refugees returning to Lebanon, the Lebanese Daily Star reported.
In July, Hezbollah militia officially announced the opening of a multitude of centers across Lebanon to assist those willing to voluntarily return to Syria. The centers, announced by Hezbollah Secretary-General Hasan Nasrallah.
Hezbollah militia has provided guarantees to the refugees to not be prosecuted and to get the regime's immunity if they accept returning to Syria.
According to The Daily Star, the refugees can submit applications any day except Sundays at centers in Baalbeck, Hermel, Labweh, Bednayel, Furn al-Shubbak, Nabatieh, Tyre, Bint Jbeil and Marjayoun. In order to return, Syrian refugees must submit documents for review by the Syrian regime.
The Syrian regime set up a coordination committee to repatriate millions of refugees who fled the country's seven-year conflict, the state-run news agency said.
The conflict has displaced more than 5 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
Thousands of Syrians are unable to return because their homes were destroyed in the fighting, or because they region fear military conscription or retribution from regime forces.
But the tough retractions and mounting arrest campaign by the Lebanese security have pushed hundreds of refugees to move back home as fighting there subsides.
A survey made by Zaman al-Wasl on a random sample of refugees in the camps of Arsal, including 210 refugees, showed that 92% of the refugees had refused to return, while 8% had agreed to return to the towns that they described as safe in the western Qalamoun.
The appeal reflects the regime's growing confidence after more than seven years of war. Syrian regime forces, with crucial support from Russia and Iran, recently retook large areas near the capital, Damascus, and are waging a new offensive in the south. The regime refers to all armed opposition groups as terrorists.
Since the Syrian revolution erupted in 2011, more than 470,000 people have been killed, and more than 6 million people have been displaced.
Zaman Al Wasl, Agencies
Zaman Al Wasl
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