Search
Search

SYRIAN REFUGEES

In Arsal, nearly 200 Syrian refugees leave Lebanon on 'voluntary return' convoy

“I'm afraid my husband will be arrested once we get to Syria, but we have no other choice,” said a Syrian woman preparing to return.

In Arsal, nearly 200 Syrian refugees leave Lebanon on 'voluntary return' convoy

Syrian refugees gathered in Ersal (Baalbeck) before being repatriated, May 14, 2024. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient Today)

Around 200 Syrian refugees left Lebanon on Tuesday morning, bound for Syria via the village of Wadi Hmayyed, in Arsal (Baalbeck), aboard a “voluntary return” convoy organized by General Security in coordination with the Syrian authorities, the first of its kind since November 2022.

Would-be returnees began arriving in Arsal at 5:30 a.m., in the presence of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). According to L'Orient-Le Jour's correspondent in the region, registration of the refugees by General Security began at around 7:30 a.m. Some 320 refugees were initially registered for departure from this border town.

Another convoy was also due to leave Lebanon at the same time via the village of Qaa (Baalbeck), but only around ten people showed up, according to a General Security source who wished to remain anonymous.

The procedure is the same as in previous years. Candidates for “voluntary return” have pre-registered with the General Security, which in turn sends the list of names to the Syrian authorities for approval.

Samar*, mother of two children aged two years and two months, fled Qalamoun in 2013 because of the war. Along with her husband and children, she is part of the group that left Arsal, but it was with great reluctance that she took the road back.

“We're afraid of the regime. I'm afraid my husband will be arrested once we get to Syria, but we have no other choice. We're scared here too," confided the young woman. Her husband tries to reassure her that he should not be arrested, since the regime has accepted his name. “In Lebanon, we lived in a tent ... It was so difficult,” said the man. “We're leaving because the Lebanese can't stand us anymore. Our country is still at war, but we can no longer do anything in Lebanon. We're leaving for the unknown. We don't know what's going to happen,” he continued.

At the end of January, the Lebanese authorities announced that Syrians wishing to return home could start registering with General Security. The last such convoy left Lebanon on Nov. 5, 2022, as L'Orient-Le Jour was able to confirm with General Security last January. But it only attracted a few hundred refugees and migrants, whereas the Lebanese government was aiming to repatriate 15,000 Syrians a month at the time.

Several “voluntary return” convoys had also been organized between 2018 and 2022, with the aim of “helping” Syrians, refugees in Lebanon since the start of the war in their country in 2011, to return home. This process has often been criticized by international organizations such as Amnesty International, who see it as disguised expulsions.

The UNHCR, in a statement to OLJ, said that return operations are organized solely by General Security but that it itself works with the Lebanese authorities and would-be returnees, “contacting and advising refugees, where possible, and ensuring a presence on the ground when departures are planned.”

Lebanese politicians of all stripes regularly call for the immediate repatriation of Syrian migrants and refugees, whom they blame for Lebanon's economic crisis. They claim that security conditions allow for such a return, while the United Nations and other rights groups warn that this is not the case.

* The first name has been changed to preserve the anonymity of this person.  

This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.

Around 200 Syrian refugees left Lebanon on Tuesday morning, bound for Syria via the village of Wadi Hmayyed, in Arsal (Baalbeck), aboard a “voluntary return” convoy organized by General Security in coordination with the Syrian authorities, the first of its kind since November 2022. Would-be returnees began arriving in Arsal at 5:30 a.m., in the presence of the Office of the United Nations...