BEIRUT, Lebanon

Lebanon said Thursday it had secured the voluntary return of 511 refugees to Syria in coordination with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

“The refugees returned aboard vehicles secured by the Syrian authorities,” the Lebanese General Security Directorate said in a statement.

On Wednesday, the Lebanese authorities resumed the repatriation of Syrian refugees to their home country after a 3-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Lebanese government plans to return 15,000 Syrian refugees to Syria every month, but the scheme was met with criticism from the United Nations, which says that security in Syria has not yet been restored.

Lebanon hosts around 1.5 million Syrian refugees, about 900,000 of whom are registered at UNHCR.

Most of the refugees suffer from tough living conditions, especially with the exacerbation of the Lebanese economic crisis on one hand and the global economic crisis on the other.

*Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report