More than 1,500 refugees return home to Deir ez-Zor

More than 1,500 refugees have returned to the communities in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor Governorate in the past weekend, with the help of the Russian military from the Center for Reconciliation of the Conflicting Parties in Syria in cooperation with the Committee for Governance of the Eastern Territories of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate.

“On December 16-17, more than 1,500 people, mostly women and children, returned to the communities of al-Salihiyah, al-Hussainiyah, Hatlah and Marrat located to the south and east of Deir ez-Zor,” chief of the Center’s headquarters Col. Vladimir Vasilevsky told reporters.

All returnees received food packages and drinking water, and some received necessary medical treatment, he added.

In early December, the Committee for Governance of the Eastern Territories of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate started operating in the town of al-Salihiyah with the help of Russia’s reconciliation center. The committee is made up of representatives of all ethnic and confessional groups living on the eastern Euphrates River bank.