A Syrian family, refugees in Lebanon, is preparing to return to Syria on Thursday, October 9, 2025, via the Arida border crossing in northern Lebanon. Photo provided by our correspondent Michel Hallak.
BEIRUT — A fourth convoy carrying Syrian refugees and migrants left Tripoli Thursday morning as part of a “voluntary return” plan coordinated by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The convoy, comprising 168 families, marks a shift from previous departures: unlike the first three convoys organized over the past three months from Beirut, this group headed north toward Syria via the Arida border crossing, rather than Masnaa in the Bekaa.
The operation was supervised by General Security (GS), with senior North Lebanon officials on site to oversee logistics and facilitate the refugees’ passage through the only open official border crossing in the region. Volunteers gathered at the Rachid Karami International Fair in Tripoli, and the return was coordinated with the UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Lebanese Red Cross and several humanitarian organizations.
Families expressed relief and gratitude, thanking General Security for easing their return home, L'Orient Today's regional correspondent reported.
The first convoy organized under the UNHCR’s program departed at the end of July, months after Bashar al-Assad’s fall on Dec. 8, 2024. That initial trip brought back only 71 people out of 17,000 who had expressed interest in the program, launched on July 1. A second convoy in mid-September carried 300 people, while last week’s third convoy returned only about 10 families.
More broadly, the UNHCR reported two weeks ago that 1 million Syrian refugees have returned from abroad since Assad’s fall. The agency called on the international community to boost support for rebuilding the country and addressing the ongoing displacement of millions of Syrians over the past 14 years.
While describing the returns as “a sign of great hope and high expectations by Syrians after the political transition in their country,” the UNHCR warned that returnees face “immense challenges,” noting that funding for the Syrian crisis is dwindling. Less than a quarter of the requested U.N. aid for Syria this year has been supplied.
Earlier this month, Lisa Abou Khaled, spokesperson for UNHCR Lebanon, told L’Orient Today that “those who choose to use these group returns represent a minority. Most people return on their own.” She said the agency had recorded 114,000 registrations for the voluntary departure program, while at least 238,000 files had been removed from UNHCR lists in Lebanon in 2025 following verified or presumed returns, pending September’s figures. The Lebanese government aims for 400,000 returns by the end of the year, Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed said.
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