MOSCOW, May 9. /TASS/. More than 300 Syrians have returned to their homes in the Syrian province of Homs and in Eastern Ghouta in the past 24 hours, Major General Yuri Yevtushenko, the chief of the Russian center for reconciliation of conflicting sides in Syria, told reporters on Wednesday.
"People tend to return to their former places of residence because devastated social infrastructure is being rebuilt and peaceful life is getting back on track. Over the past 24 hours, 196 people have come back to their homes in the province of Homs and 109 people in Eastern Ghouta," he said.
"The Russian center for reconciliation of conflicting sides monitors resettlement of refugees from the Tell-Rifaat de-confliction zone to the city of Manbij in the Aleppo province. In the past 24 hours, 651 people were taken with personal belongings to that populated locality," Yevtushenko said.
According to the general, 64,598 residents of Eastern Ghouta returned home from camps for refugees and temporarily displaced persons.
"In the town of Douma, work is in full swing to clear the rubble with the help of Russian special vehicles and equipment, to rebuild housing facilities, to demine houses and to carry away the munition and mines. In the past 24 hours, 17 houses and adjoining areas have been cleared from mines, while 34 explosive devices were spotted and defused," he noted.
In cooperation with Syria’s authorities, efforts are exercised to improve the humanitarian situation in Eastern Qalamoun. In Ruheiba, six houses and neighboring areas have been cleared from mines.
Militants’ pullout
Amid tightened security measures, the center for reconciliation of conflicting sides and Russian military police are completing the pullout of fighters of illegal armed groups and members of their families from eastern areas of the Palestinian refugees’ former camp of Yarmouk via the Beit Sahem humanitarian corridor.
"In the past 24 hours, 614 militants and members of their families have passed through the humanitarian corridor. They all were carried by buses to the north of Aleppo province, while vehicles of the Security Service of the Syrian Arab Republic and ambulances of the Arab Red Crescent were escorting them," Yevtushenko said.
"Overall, since May 3 as many as 8,007 militants and their families have been pulled out from the populated localities of Ilda, Babilla, Sidi-Miqdat and Beit Sahem," the general noted. "Under earlier reached agreements, the reconciliation center continues efforts to withdraw militants and their families from the Homs de-escalation zone. For the purpose, a humanitarian corridor is operating with a checkpoint set up near the populated locality of Al-Rastan. Through it, 2,798 people have been pulled out and transported to the north of Aleppo province in a day."
Since May 7, 5,981 militants and members of their families have left the Homs de-escalation zone.
Militants handed three units of combat hardware and 80 various kinds of arms and ammunition to Syria’s government forces.
Nevertheless, illegal armed groups violate the ceasefire in the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama, Rif Dimashq and Daraa, according to the reconciliation center.
Humanitarian aid
Yevtushenko stressed that the reconciliation center defines as the focus of work that the humanitarian situation should be improved, the population in need provided with medical treatment and Syrians’ basic demands be met.
"During charity missions in the populated localities of Hazze, Rif Dimashq province, and Deir-Qaq, Aleppo province, the residents received 445 food sets and fresh bread. The humanitarian aid amounted to three tonnes," the reconciliation center’s chief said.
"Russian military doctors provided medical services to 113 Syrians, including 61 children," he added.
Russian reconciliation center
The Russian reconciliation center continues to fulfill assigned tasks after the completion of the military campaign in Syria. The center’s officers regularly travel around the country's liberated areas to assess the humanitarian situation. The main efforts of the Russian military are now focused on assistance to the refugees returning to their homes and evacuation of civilians from de-escalation zones.