STORY: Syrian refugees return home from Lebanon amid "facilitated procedures"
SHOOTING TIME: May 14, 2024
DATELINE: May 15, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:06
LOCATION: Damascus
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the Syrian refugees gathering at the Zamrani border point in the countryside of Damascus

STORYLINE:

Dozens of Syrian families, previously displaced and residing in Lebanon, returned to Syria on Tuesday, reported the state news agency SANA.
   
Dozens of families crossed through the Zamrani and Jousiya border points in the countryside of Damascus and Homs respectively. The returnees underwent smooth and facilitated procedures upon their arrival, according to the report.
   
Personal data were recorded, alongside their permanent addresses in their respective villages and towns, by a dedicated committee tasked with overseeing their reintegration and providing essential assistance, said SANA.
   
The report said health teams, poised with mobile clinics and ambulances, stood ready to offer necessary medical services, including health evaluations, nutritional support, and vaccinations for children.
   
More displaced families will be returning from Lebanon in the coming days, utilizing various border crossings in Rural Damascus and Homs provinces, said SANA.
   
According to Lebanese General Security sources, voluntary departure trips for displaced Syrians from Lebanon to their country resumed on Tuesday after a halt that lasted about two years.
   
The sources told Xinhua that two trips included over 200 displaced people from the town of Arsal in eastern Lebanon towards Syrian territory, in coordination with Lebanese General Security and the relevant authorities on the Syrian side.
   
For its part, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 310 Syrian refugees returned to Syria after they "suffered from physical abuse and their official documentation torn in Lebanon."
   
It has no comment on the report from the Lebanese side yet.

It's worth noting that many Syrian refugees in Lebanon have crossed into Lebanon illegally and don't have official documentation or registration as refugees.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Damascus.
(XHTV)