Damascus creates body to repatriate Syria refugees

Syria’s government is to set up a coordination committee to repatriate millions of its nationals who fled the country’s seven-year conflict, state media says.

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 reports.

The conflict has displaced more than five million Syrians outside the country, the United Nations says, 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 says.

It would take steps toward “ensuring they can lead normal lives and practice their jobs as before the war” started in 2011, it adds.

The coordination body is to “intensify contact with friendly countries to provide all facilitations and take suitable steps towards their return,” SANA says.

President Bashar Assad’s regime has pushed back rebels and jihadists in large parts of Syria since its ally Russia intervened militarily on its side in 2015.

— AFP