Lebanon News, Breaking News – More and more displaced people return to their cities in Syria

The United Nations announced that some 750,000 internally displaced persons returned to their cities in the first half of 2018, almost the total number of returnees last year.

The UN refugee agency said in a statement that the majority of IDPs were returning to areas restored by government forces of opposition factions, including Aleppo, Homs and the countryside. damask.

This year, the proportion of newcomers has exceeded that recorded in 2017, when 760,000 people returned to cities forced to leave.

UNHCR stated that it had "strengthened its capabilities inside Syria" in 2017 in anticipation of the return of more displaced people to certain areas as and when as the conflict data changes.

The sharp increase in the number of returnees coincides with an increase in the number of displaced persons in other regions.

The UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs in Syria said last month that in the first four months of 2018, 920,000 people had to flee their homes, the highest level of seven years of conflict.

The exodus was the result of fighting in the eastern Ghouta, the former fortress of fighting factions, and Idlib, the main bastion of factions in northwestern Syria.

More than 6 million internally displaced people remain in Syria, while 5.6 million have fled abroad.

UNHCR confirmed that only 13,000 returned to Syria in the first half of this year.