Bulletin of the Centre for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides and Refugee Migration Monitoring in Syrian Arab Republic (September 6, 2021)

Return of Refugees from abroad

Over the past day, 308 refugees (including 102 women and 172 children) have returned to the Syrian Arab Republic from the territory of Lebanon through the Jaydet-Yabus and tell-Kalah checkpoints.

There was no withdrawal of refugees from Jordan through the Nasib checkpoint.

Since July 18, 2018, in total 700,356 Syrians have returned back to their homes from abroad:

from Lebanon - 305,108 people. (including: women-89,797, children-152,101), through the checkpoints Jaydet Yabus - 183,203, Tell-Kalah - 114,871, Zemrani - 4,346, al-Dabusiya - 1,834, al-Qusayr - 854;
from Jordan through the checkpoint Nasib – 395,248 people. (women-118,618, children-201,569).

As of August 5, 2021, there are 6,791,032 Syrian refugees in 43 countries (Turkey – 3,696,919, Lebanon – 855,173, Jordan – 665,834, Germany – 595,124, Iraq – 247,044, Egypt – 131,235, the Netherlands – 63,670, Austria – 58,050, Denmark – 35,536, Greece – 58,273, Switzerland – 22,100, Cyprus – 2,602, Belgium – 25,311, Italy – 3,832, Romania – 1,156, Spain – 3,098, Ireland – 450, Bosnia and Herzegovina – 350, Argentina – 392, Malta – 1,115, Poland – 251, Luxembourg – 553, Croatia – 250, Slovenia – 226, Iceland – 50, Bulgaria – 471, Hungary – 27, Slovakia – 12, Czech Republic – 1,320, Great Britain – 17,525, Sweden – 137,152, Canada – 50,117, USA – 21,772, France – 36,050, Norway – 36,113, Brazil – 5,074, Finland – 2,631, Portugal – 753, Lithuania – 544, Albania – 250, Peru – 29, Uruguay – 28, Serbia – 621).

An estimated 1,297,168 Syrians from fifteen countries (Lebanon – 645,128, Turkey – 70,041, Germany – 60,115, Austria – 103, Switzerland – 17, Jordan – 458,021, Iraq – 847, Greece – 30,372, Denmark – 150, the Netherlands – 29,244, Lithuania – 30, Malta – 541, Canada – 2,517, Argentina – 18, Uruguay – 24) expressed a desire to return to their homeland.

From 30 September 2015 to Syria from the territories of foreign States returned 929,636 people. (including: women-247,630, children-420,583).

Currently, 13 checkpoints are deployed, including:

five on the Syria-Lebanon border (Zemrani, Jaydet-Yabus (Zabadani), al-Sabusiya (al-Aarida), Talkalakh and al-Qusayr (Qusayr));
one on the Syria-Jordan border (Nasib);
five on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic (Salhiyah, Jleb, Saraqib, Miznaz, Abu Azeidin);
one CP at Damascus international airport;
one CP at Baniyas sea port.

The leadership of Syria is taking active steps aimed at increasing the efficiency of the process of repatriation of Syrian refugees from the territory of foreign states.

Internal Displacement

It is reported that no Syrians returned back to:

There was no withdrawal of refugees through the Salhiyah checkpoint (Deir ez-Zor province). Since August 25, 2018, 99,828 people have returned (including: women-38,473, children-33,771), and 2,482 vehicles have been withdrawn.

There was no withdrawal of refugees through the Jleb checkpoint (Homs province). In total, 24,023 people have returned since February 19, 2019. (women - 6,592, children - 11,365), 1,812 units of equipment were withdrawn.

There was no withdrawal of refugees from the Rukban camp. In total, 20,204 people left the camp since March 23, 2019 (women - 5,749, children - 10,000), 947 units of equipment have been withdrawn.

There was no withdrawal of refugees from the Idlib de-escalation zone. A total of 46,801 people have left the zone since March 4, 2018. (including: women – 15,142, children-21,284), 4,818 units of equipment were withdrawn.

Since January 13, 2020, 1,873 people have left the zone. (including: women-687, children-761), 63 units of equipment were withdrawn.

Total from September 30, 2015 1,367,544 internally displaced persons returned to their places of permanent residence (including: women – 418,309, children-676,811), and 98,948 people since January 1, 2019 (including: women-36,750, children-32,045).

Cities and towns ready to receive refugees

There are 1,502,650 places arranged to receive and accommodate refugees in 413 settlements less affected by the combat actions.

Infrastructure Rehabilitation

They assessed the social infrastructure and facilities, housing fund, amount of construction materials available in Djafra (Deir ez-Zor province) and Mellah (al-Suwayda province). In order to improve living conditions for Syrians, and to complete infrastructure rehabilitation it is necessary to supply materials in the following towns:

Jafra - automobile crane, dump truck, 9 windows, 8 cubic meters of bricks, 6 cubic meters of cement, 7 tons of construction fittings, 930 kg of finishing materials, 950 m of water pipes, 850 m of electric cable for the restoration of four residential buildings, a bakery and a water pump station;
Mellah-excavator, grader, dump truck, 9 windows, 8 cubic meters of bricks, 4 cubic meters of cement, 6 tons of construction fittings, 650 kg of finishing materials, 550 m of water pipes, 750 m of electric cable for the restoration of five residential buildings, a medical center and an electrical substation.

The heads of local self-government bodies sent applications to the Ministry of public works and housing construction to obtain construction materials for the restoration of objects.

Since July 20, 2018, in total, in the Syrian Arab Republic:

993 educational and 257 medical institutions, 4,983 residential buildings, 41.73 km of water supply networks, ten wells with drinking water were restored; four cultural and leisure facilities; six office buildings; 0.1 km of sidewalk, 194 lighting appliances;
six road bridges and 1,835.8 km of roads were repaired;
1,487.49 km of power lines were laid;
274 water supply facilities, 326 bakeries, 848 electrical substations, four gas stations, and 14,455 industrial enterprises and 194 lighting devices were put into operation.

Currently, in 345 localities in the provinces of Aleppo, Damascus, Deir ez-Zor, Latakia, Hama, Homs, Deraa, Suwayda, Quneitra and Raqqa, work is underway to restore and repair 2,675 residential buildings, 223 schools, 176 preschool institutions, 239 medical institutions, 208 bakeries, 200 electrical substations, 281 water pumping stations and 89 religious buildings.

Humanitarian and medical assistance

Over the past day, the Russian side carried out one humanitarian action in al-Musharifa (al-Hasekeh province), during which 250 food packages with a total weight of 3.09 tons were given to the needy residents of the Syrian Arab Republic.

In total, 3,019 humanitarian actions were organized and carried out. 5,268.29 tons of food, bottled water and basic necessities were delivered and distributed to Syrian citizens.

Medical specialists of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation did not provide medical assistance to Syrian citizens.

In total, medical specialists provided assistance to 132,874 residents of Syria.

Mine Clearance

Engineering units of the armed forces of the Syrian Arab Republic carried out mine clearance tasks in Douma (Damascus province) Daraa and Usman (Daraa province) during the day.

19,3 hectares of the territory were cleared. They found and defused three explosive devices including one improvised explosive device.

Total cleared: 4,912.6 hectares of territory, 3,112 buildings (structures), 273.4 km of roads. 43,385 EDs were found and destroyed, including 5,783 IEDs.

Arrangements for Refugee Reception

The government program on restoration settlements liberated from the militants has started in Damascus, Aleppo and Hama provinces. The program includes three stages: preparation of infrastructure (water supply, electrification), targeted assistance to the population, and the return of residents to their places of permanent residence.

The Joint Coordination Committee of the Syrian Arab Republic on the repatriation of refugees carries out social and economic activities to activate the process of infrastructure rehabilitation; all necessary measures are taken to enable refugees and internally displaced persons to return back to their homeland.

Officers of the Russian Centre for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides held no working meetings to discuss rehabilitation of social infrastructure, and creation of environment favourable for returnees.