MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/. Up to 2,000 Syrian refugees return home from neighboring states every day, the Russian and Syrian coordination headquarters said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
"Most Syrian citizens return from Syria’s neighboring states. Every day, between 1,000 and 2,000 people come to the country from Jordan and Lebanon, confirming that the measures have been effective," says the statement signed by the heads of the Russian and Syrian coordination headquarters, Mikhail Mizintsev and Hussein Makhlouf.
More than 1.8 mln refugees have come back home, and over 1.3 mln of them are internally displaced persons and another 500,000 are refugees from other countries, the statement said.
The Russian and Syrian Joint Coordination Committees said ealrlier that about 28,000 Syrian citizens remain in the Rukban refugee camp due to being unable to leave the area.
"About 28,000 Syrians who cannot leave its territory remain in Rukban in appalling conditions due to being hostage to the US-controlled armed groups," reads the document signed by the committees’ heads Mikhail Mizintsev of Russia and Hussein Makhlouf of Syria.
It stressed that the armed groups demanded up to $1,500 for leaving the camp, which "the vast majority of camp residents do not have." In view of this, Russia and Syria called on the US command in the al-Tanf area "to foil the criminal activities of the armed groups under its control and ensure the unhindered exit of Rukban camp residents.".