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Nearly 50 Syrians return to their homes over 24 hours

Russian military doctors provided assistance to 48 Syrians, including six children

KHMEIMIM /Syria/, December 8. /TASS/. Nearly 50 Syrians have returned in the past 24 hours to their homes abandoned at the outbreak of conflict, the Russian center for reconciliation of opposing sides in Syria said on Friday.

"The Russian Centre for reconciliation of opposing sides and local authorities continue cooperating to return refugees back home and recover infrastructure," the center said. "Over the last 24 hours, 47 people have made their way back home to the provinces of Aleppo (25) and Homs (22)."

Russian military doctors provided assistance to 48 Syrians, including six children.

Carrying out two missions in the Homs and Latakia regions, Russian officers delivered a total of 3.25 tonnes of humanitarian aid to civilians.

At the Astana meeting on Syria in May, the guarantors of the Syrian ceasefire (Russia, Iran and Turkey) signed a memorandum on setting up de-escalation zones in the war-torn country.

The three de-escalation zones are in Syria’s southwest, in Eastern Ghouta (Damascus suburbs) and near Homs. The fourth zone covers the Idlib Province and parts of the neighboring Aleppo, Latakia and Hama.

Starting from May 6, military activities and aircraft flights in the de-escalation zones were banned. The document’s term is six months, with an optional further extension.

On December 6, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Islamic State had been fully defeated on both banks of the Euphrates in Syria. He noted that there could still be some isolated pockets of resistance. However, combat operations on this territory had largely ended with "terrorists’ crushing defeat".