REPORT: Russian envoy says discussions positive with Lebanese officials over refugees return

Russian Special Presidential Envoy Alexander Lavrentiev asserted on Thursday from the Baabda Presidential Palace that talks with the Lebanese side were “positive" over the return of the Syrian refugees from Lebanon to their homeland in Syria.

“We will continue the joint work for the return of the Syrian refugees to their country,” he added.
 
He also noted that refugees in neighboring countries “are returning to Syria on a daily basis.”
 
“The Syrian government has the will to create the appropriate conditions for their return to their normal lives,” he asserted.

Earlier in the day, President Michel Aoun headed a meeting at the Baabda Palace in the presence of Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri with the Russian delegation presided by Lavrentiev to discuss the Russian suggestions to guarantee the return of the Syrian refugees to Syria.

Around 5.6 million Syrians are registered as refugees in the region, around 1 million of them are in Lebanon. The United Nations is saying that conditions for their returns to Syria are not fulfilled yet, more than seven years into a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

 

 

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