Syria’s government is to set up a committee to coordinate repatriating millions of its nationals who fled the country’s seven-year conflict, state media has said.
The Cabinet on Sunday “agreed to create a coordination body for the return of those displaced abroad to their cities and villages,” state news agency SANA reported.
Five million displaced
The conflict has displaced more than five million Syrians outside the country, says the UN, with more than half displaced to Turkey and most of the rest split between Lebanon and Jordan.
The committee “will take the necessary measures to settle the status of all those who were displaced and secure their return as security and basic services return to different regions”, SANA said on Sunday. It will take steps towards “ensuring they can lead normal lives and practice their jobs as before the war” which broke out in 2011, it added.
The coordination body is to “intensify contact with friendly countries to provide all facilitations and take suitable steps towards their return”, SANA said.
Last month, Russia presented the U.S. with plans for the coordinated return of refugees to Syria. The proposal includes the establishment of working groups in both Lebanon and Jordan, involving U.S. and Russian officials. Countries hosting Syrians have ramped up demands in recent months for refugees to return to safe areas in their homeland.
On Monday, Lebanon’s General Security agency announced it had opened 17 centres across the country that would receive applications for Syrians who want to travel back home.