AANES representative in Lebanon: increasing numbers of refugees returning to Syria

While the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria announced earlier this September its readiness to welcome Syrians returning from Lebanon to its regions, its representative in Lebanon, Abdul Salam Ahmed, said in a phone call to ANHA's 

agency: "The number of those wishing to leave Lebanon and go to the areas of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria is increasing."

 Regarding the measures taken by the representation in Lebanon to facilitate the return of Syrians from Lebanon, Ahmad added, "Their names are registered in lists, and transportation is provided to take them to the border crossing between Syria and Lebanon," noting that there are currently "no accurate figures on the number of those leaving, as some reconsider their departure after registering their names."

 Regarding the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, the representative of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria in Lebanon clarified, "There are no official statistics on the number of Syrians present in Lebanon," but he stated, "Some estimate them to be around two million refugees."

 As for the number of Syrians from the regions of North and East Syria in Lebanon, Ahmad pointed out the lack of accurate statistics regarding their numbers. He added, "The difficulty in counting lies in the fact that most of them use Lebanon as a transit point to Europe; therefore, we often find that some families have left after the census. The data we obtained after the initial census we conducted in 2019 indicated that the numbers exceeded thirty thousand."

 T/ Satt.

ANHA