Over 180 Syrians Return From Lebanon, Jordan Over 24 Hours - Russian Defense Ministry

More than 180 Syrian refugees have returned to their home country from Lebanon and Jordan over the past 24 hours, while over 40 of them have crossed into Syria via the recently reopened Nassib checkpoint, the Russian Defense Ministry's Center for Refugee Reception, Distribution and Settlement said on Thursday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th October, 2018) More than 180 Syrian refugees have returned to their home country from Lebanon and Jordan over the past 24 hours, while over 40 of them have crossed into Syria via the recently reopened Nassib checkpoint, the Russian Defense Ministry's Center for Refugee Reception, Distribution and Settlement said on Thursday.

The Nassib checkpoint, located at the Jordanian border, was reopened on Monday under agreement of the Syrian and the Jordanian governments. In early July, Damascus regained control over the checkpoint, which was seized by militants in 2015.

"Over the past 24 hours, 182 Syrian citizens returned to the Syrian Arab Republic from foreign territories, including 140 refugees who left Lebanon for Syria via the Jaydet-Yabus and Talkalakh checkpoints (42 women and 71 children), and 42 Syrian citizens who left Jordan for Syria via the Nassib checkpoint (13 women, 21 children)," the center's daily bulletin read.

A total of 23 internally displaced Syrians have returned to the Eastern Ghouta settlement in Damascus province, the center added.

Since July 18, a total of 19,327 people have returned to Syria from other countries, according to the bulletin, while 360 of them have returned via the Nassib checkpoint.

The Russian Center for Syrian reconciliation has carried out two humanitarian actions over the past 24 hours, delivering 3.45 tonnes of food to settlements located in the Syrian provinces of Hama and Aleppo, the ministry added.

According to the bulletin, the Syrian engineering troops continue conducting mine clearance operations. Over the past 24 hours, they have cleared up eight hectares of territory, nine buildings and two kilometers of roads, while they have also found and defused 41 explosive devices, including 10 improvised explosive devices.

As the Syrian government has regained control over most of the country's territories that were seized by terrorists, it is now focused on creating favorable conditions for repatriating refugees. Moscow is assisting Damascus in this, along with providing humanitarian aid to civilians and being a guarantor of the ceasefire.