BEIRUT, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Two Syrian families refused to return back to their homeland from Lebanon Monday after discovering that they will have to perform the military service upon their arrival, local media reported.
"Members of these two families are men and they discovered that they have to join the military service upon their arrival and not six months after their arrival as they were previously informed," according to Elnashra, an independent online newspaper.
Hence, the number of refugees returning back to Syria from Nabatieh dropped from 50 to 39.
On Monday, Syrian refugees met in the early morning in different locations in Lebanon to return to Syria under the supervision of Lebanon's general security.
According to Elnashra, the number of refugees returning to Syria are 140 from Burj Hammoud, 220 from Al Madina Al Riyadiya, 39 from Nabatieh and 50 from Tyre.
More than one million Syrian refugees are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Lebanon. The government estimated the true number of Syrians in the country to be 1.5 million.
The Russian Defense Ministry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs drafted a strategy last month to secure the safe return of Syrian refugees to their homeland.
The strategy aims at securing the return of 890,000 refugees to Syria from Lebanon.
