On Friday, Syrian authorities sent back the displaced Syrians who had crossed the border from Lebanon via al-Masnaa crossing point. The General Security granted the Syrian families leaving Arsal permission to cross the border back into Syria via the al-Masnaa crossing point, on the condition that they hold Syrian identification documents.
The families spent their night in the open air, where they slept on mattresses along the highway. Among those refugees were 780 children, 290 elderly and 700 women.
The Syrian authorities had initially refused to allow the refugees’ return after realizing that there are no men among them, “since the men were those fighting in Arsal.”