Idlib, Sept. 4 (SANA) A convoy carrying 308 displaced families left camps in Idlib on Thursday to return to their villages and towns across five Syrian provinces, as efforts continue to help families displaced by the deposed regime return to their areas of origin.
The families are returning to communities in Idlib, Hama, Homs, Damascus countryside and Aleppo under an initiative sponsored by Idlib Governorate and coordinated with the Directorate of Social Affairs and Labor, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Muzn Organization, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and the Emergency and Disaster Management Directorate.
The initiative is aimed at ensuring a safe and dignified return as conditions improve in the families’ areas of origin, while providing logistical assistance and essential supplies.
Mohammad Bakir, director of the northern department of Social Affairs and Labor in Idlib, told SANA that the convoy was part of a broader plan carried out with local and international organizations to facilitate returns.
He said authorities were coordinating transportation and accompanying families from assembly points to their villages and towns, expressing hope that Idlib could reach its goal of “zero tents” by the end of the year despite existing challenges.
Abdullah Ahmad Daadou, who was returning to Maarrat al-Numan after seven years of forced displacement, described the return as an indescribable joy following years of hardship in displacement camps and said he hoped it would mark a new beginning for his family.
Another returnee, Abdul Malik al-Ahmad from Abu al-Duhur, expressed hope that basic services would be restored to returning communities to help families rebuild their lives after 10 years of displacement caused by the crimes of the former regime.
The latest return follows a convoy of 186 families that left Idlib camps on Sept. 1 for their hometowns across five provinces.
Idlib Governorate and its international partners are continuing return programs alongside efforts to rehabilitate infrastructure and restore essential services in areas receiving displaced families.
kA/ABD
