DAMASCUS, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- After many years of drifting abroad out of fear of the grinding war in their home country, Syrian refugees now start to relish the journey back mixed with curiosity and relief.
At the Jdaidet Yabous crossing between Syria and Lebanon on Monday, buses carrying dozens of Syrian refugees back home crossed over the border, when they saw the Syrian soil for the first time after many years of refuge in neighboring Lebanon.
Mobile clinics were set up at the crossing, where food, juice and water are provided for the new arrivals, while Syrian flags were waved by young people welcoming the returnees.
Meanwhile, the warm welcome inspired smiles on the faces of the refugees, who feel the situation in Syria is getting stabilized.
Ahmad, a man in his 30s, was one of the smilers, while getting out of the bus with his wife and little children.
"I am so happy. When I saw the Syrian flag, my heart jumped out of its place in happiness as there is nothing more beautiful than returning home," he told Xinhua.
Ahmad said his fellow refugees in Lebanon were eager to return home as well.
"The Syrian refugees in Lebanon were envious when they knew I was coming back home and they asked me to tell them in details about the procedures of the return so that they could come back as well," he said.
Jasem, an old man in his 70s, the strong sunlight at the crossing accentuated the lines on his face, as he was coming back with his daughter and grandchildren.
"There is nothing more beautiful or precious than the homeland. We were helpless when we fled being scared of the war," the old man said.
His daughter Basima, a mother of four, told Xinhua that she has been dreaming about returning home for six years.
"I have always dreamt about returning home. Everything seems good here and the people are nice to us," she said.
The Syrian government has been appealing to the refugees to return home as the domestic situation is increasingly better amid the military victory of the Syrian army, which has retaken large swathes of the territory.
All major Syrian cities, including the capital Damascus, the central cities of Homs and Hama, the northern city of Aleppo and many coastal cities, are now safe for habitation.
In Lebanon alone, estimates suggest that more than 1 million Syrian refugees have sought sanctuary in the small neighboring country.
Alaa Ibrahim, governor of Rif Damashq Governorate, told Xinhua at the crossing on Monday that Syria is giving the returnees the welcome a mother would give to her children after long years of separation.
"The people who are returning are being received and embraced after all these years, the same way a mother would receive her children," Ibrahim said.
According to the governor, it was the fourth batch of Syrian refugees among the already 25,000 returning from Lebanon within four months.
"Some Syrian refugees in Europe are returning as well on their own" through Lebanon, he noted, expecting a massive return of refugees in the near future as "Syria is almost liberated."
Out of an estimated pre-war 22-million population in Syria in 2016, 13.5 million were identified by the United Nations as in need of humanitarian assistance, with more than 6 million forced into internal displacement, and about 5 million fleeing outside Syria.
In 2018, however, the crisis seems to be nearing the end, at least on the military level, as the Syrian army fully secured the capital Damascus in April and then captured the province of Daraa, the birthplace of the Syrian war in southern Syria, the province of Quneitra near the Israel-occupied Golan Heights, and almost the entire southern province of Sweida.
The rebels are now almost concentrated in the northwestern province of Idlib, perhaps the last battleground in Syria considering the fact that Kurdish-controlled regions in the northeast are seeking negotiations with the government on their future status in Syria.
While encouraging the reconciliation deal in Idlib, the Syrian army is believed to be preparing for a wide-scale offensive on the province should the reconciliation fails.
These successive victories achieved in recent years have expanded the safe areas across the country, creating a solid ground for the return of Syrian refugees to their homes.
Ibrahim said the government even grants the draft dodgers who are returning to the country six months to settle down before reporting to the military service.
No retribution is being practised against returnees, including those with criminal records who had fled the country illegally, he noted.
