BEIRUT, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Tuesday that it does not encourage the return of Syrian refugees in Lebanon to their homeland because of the insecurity there.
"We do not encourage the return of Syrian refugees because proper human conditions do not exist in Syria and the UNHCR cannot be present in Syrian areas until it is fully aware of what is happening there," Cameron Rashleigh, UNHCR's head of field office in South Lebanon, was quoted by Lebanese media as saying.
Around 541 Syrian refugees returned to their homeland Tuesday through the Masnaa border crossing from the meeting points in Shabaa, Burj Hammoud and Tripoli.
Rashleigh said the return of Syrian refugees was organized by Lebanon's General Security. Though UNHCR workers were present to support the refugees, the agency did not participate in organizing their return.
This is not the first time that the UNHCR expressed a cautious stance with regard to the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland.
At the beginning of June, the UNHCR was accused by caretaker Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil of scaring refugees away from returning to their homeland through warnings and threats.
This prompted Bassil to issue instructions to freeze the renewal of the UNHCR staff residency permits until further notice.
The UNHCR announced later that the agency will "encourage a voluntary return for refugees and work with its team inside Syria to remove obstacles endangering those who wish to return."
