Lebanese President Michel Aoun (C) meets with visiting Russian delegation in Beirut, Lebanon, July 26, 2018. A Russian delegation arrived in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Thursday to discuss with Lebanese officials the return of Syrian refugees, local news agency Elnashra reported. (Xinhua/Dalati & Nohra)
BEIRUT, July 26 (Xinhua) -- A Russian delegation arrived in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Thursday to discuss with Lebanese officials the return of Syrian refugees, local news agency Elnashra reported.
The Russian delegation met with Lebanese President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri for the implementation of a Russian strategy on the return of Syrian refugees.
The strategy, drafted by the Russian Defense Ministry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, came after a meeting in Helsinki, Finland between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump earlier this month.
According to the strategy, a Russian-Syrian-Lebanese security committee will be formed to facilitate the legal return of Syrian refugees from Lebanon to their homeland.
Lebanon's General Directorate Security will be represented in the committee with the possibility to include a U.S. participation similar to the committee created in Jordan, reported local news website Lebanon 24.
The Russian strategy specifies around 76 residential locations in Syria's Homs, Aleppo, Damascus and Hama to enable the return of 360,000 Syrian refugees as a first step in the coming few months.
The strategy also entails the rehabilitation of houses in the mentioned areas that would allow the return of 500,000 more Syrian refugees within two years, added the report.
There are more than 1 million Syrian refugees living in Lebanon as registered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), as a result of the seven-year-old civil war in neighboring Syria.
