Hundreds of Syrian refugees left the Lebanese border town of Arsal on Thursday (June 28th) to return home, as part of a co-ordinated operation between authorities in Beirut and Damascus, AFP reported.
Arsal hosts some 36,000 displaced Syrians according to the UN refugee agency, many of them from Syrian villages just across the border.
Around 370 left Arsal on Thursday afternoon for Syrian territory under an agreement reached between Lebanon's General Security and Syrian authorities, said the Lebanese National News Agency.
They gathered at the arid Lebanese-Syrian border before moving together in a convoy across the frontier. Syrian state media confirmed they had begun arriving into Syrian territory.
General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim said Thursday's operation was just the first wave of returns.
Lebanese authorities had presented to Damascus a list of 3,000 people who wanted to return, of whom just 450 were approved, NNA said.
The UNHCR said the refugee agency had a team on the ground but was not involved in the operations, their spokeswoman said.
"Our position has not changed. We have not organised returns and we did not organise this one," said Lisa Abou Khaled.
Earlier this year, around 500 refugees left southern Lebanon for Syria in a return organised by both Lebanese and Syrian authorities.
Several thousand have independently gone back to their homeland from towns around the border in recent years.
Lebanese officials have stressed that they are not forcing returns, and that refugees are doing so voluntarily.
