������Ƶ

LONDON: The number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon who have returned to their home country is expected to reach 400,000 by the end of this year, the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees said on Thursday.

About 300,000 Syrians have already returned to their country from Lebanon since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, it added.

Lisa Abu Khaled, a spokesperson for the UN agency, said that a further 180,000 refugees have expressed a desire to also return home as part of a UN repatriation program launched in July.

Abu Khaled and officials from the Lebanese General Security and the International Organization for Migration accompanied 163 Syrian refugees, who were part of the fourth convoy organized by the UN program, as they crossed the border north of Tripoli on Thursday and returned to their country.

The Syrians, who were bound for the Idlib and Homs areas, did not have to pay border fees on the Lebanese side, highlighting the country’s commitment to the safe and dignified return of displaced people, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

The Lebanese Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations are assisting Lebanon in its efforts to facilitate the return of refugees. Millions of people were displaced from Syria by the civil war in the country, which began in March 2011. An estimated 2.1 million of them ended up in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Social Affairs.

LONDON: Israeli forces raided the offices of the Union of Charitable Societies in the Wadi Al-Joz neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem on Thursday and detained the current and former heads of the union.

Forces and intelligence prevented a social event announced by the union under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority, before detaining Majdi Al-Zughayer, the current president, and Youssef Qari, the former president of the UCS.

The raid was conducted following an order from Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Israeli minister of national security, according to the Palestine News Agency.

The Israeli government has cracked down on several Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem, shutting down some of them and prohibiting meetings of clubs and associations engaged in cultural and sports activities, arguing that they are connected to the PA.

These measures are part of Israel’s policy to limit the activities of institutions in Jerusalem and prevent any national or social actions within the occupied city, WAFA added.

The UCS is a non-governmental charity founded in 1958 during the rule of Jordan and before the occupation of East Jerusalem by Israel. At least 150 Palestinian charitable organizations are members of the UCS and operate across Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho, the Jordan Valley, Ramallah, and Al-Bireh.

Israeli authorities stopped the Al-Quds Fund and the General Federation of Palestinian Trade Unions from operating in the city in April.

In addition, six schools run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East were closed in September in Jerusalem for the first time in the agency’s history. The closure followed an Israeli ban imposed in May.