Over a million Syrians have returned to their country in less than a year due to the liberation of most of the territory and the rebuilding of its infrastructure, Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview to the Paris Match outlet
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th November, 2019) Over a million Syrians have returned to their country in less than a year due to the liberation of most of the territory and the rebuilding of its infrastructure, Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview to the Paris Match outlet.
Earlier this week, Maj. Gen. Yuri Borenkov, the head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Reconciliation Center in Syria, said that as many as 706,227 Syrians had returned to the country, and over 1.3 million internally displaced persons had returned to their pre-war homes since September 30, 2015.
"Over a million Syrians in less than a year and the process is accelerating, particularly after Damascus and the southern region and its environs were liberated.� Of course, the return of Syrians is also related to rebuilding the infrastructure and the availability of other services, like electricity, schools, and hospitals," Assad said in the interview, the English version of which was published by the Syrian state-run SANA news agency.
The Syrian leader added that most of those returning home did not initially leave because they opposed him, as they had rather confirmed their support of the government by the results of the 2014 presidential election.
He emphasized that the dissidents who had not committed any crimes are free to return to Syria. In fact, he noted that the government had granted amnesty several times � most recently a couple of months ago � because some people fear being arrested as they step back into the country.
As a result of the Syrian civil war, ongoing since 2011, over 5.6 million refugees and over 6 million internally displaced people have fled their homes. As the government forces, led by Assad, regained control over most of the country's territories, they have striven to create favorable repatriation conditions for the refugees.
