(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) BEIRUT, July 29 (KUNA) -- The first phase of the Lebanese Government's plan to repatriate Syrian refugees to their homeland began on Tuesday, said the official National News Agency (NNA).
The operation being coordinated between the Lebanese Public Security Directorate General and the Syrian State, the NNA said, indicating that the refugees were returning via the Al-Masnaa checkpoint in eastern Lebanon.
The NNA indicated that the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Lebanese Red Cross and other humanitarian associations were involved in the refugees' repatriation.
Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Metri had said that the refugees' return would be in two forms. In one, refugees' names are registered, transported aboard buses to Syria and each paid USD 100, in the other, they must set the date for their return to Syria, secure a transportation means themselves, but, they will be also paid the same sum of money.
As an incentive, the returnees will be pardoned from paying fines for staying the country with invalid residency papers, provided they do not try to come back again.
There have been recurring calls at various quarters that the Syrian refugees, estimated at around two million, must return to their country, where a new government has been set up and normal conditions are said to be restored.
A number of the refugees have returned to Syria, but figures are contradictory and there have been reports that some of them have sneaked back into Lebanon via "illegal borders routes." (end)
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