The regime of President Bashar al-Assad has detained at least 26 Syrians who have returned to their country from Lebanon as a result of Israel’s war, the Syrian Network for Human Rights has said.
, the SNHR said that one of the detained refugees had later died under torture in a regime jail.
An estimated 425,000 people have fled from Lebanon to Syria ever since Israel dramatically escalated its attacks on the former country on September 23 this year.
Around 70 percent of them are Syrians who originally fled the brutal Syrian conflict which broke out in 2011.
Human rights groups have long warned that Syrian refugees who return to Syria face arrest, torture and even execution at the hands of regime forces.
Those not detained face homelessness and hunger, as they are unable to return to their homes – many of which were destroyed in the conflict – and Syrian regime authorities do not provide adequate shelter.
Some of the returnees’ homes were previously seized by Syrian regime authorities, according to the SNHR.
There have been reports that the Syrian regime discriminates between Syrian returnees and Lebanese refugees on a sectarian basis when it comes to the provision of food and shelter.
"Faced with this agonizing dilemma, Syrian refugees are forced to decide which of two terrible and life-threatening fates is less intolerable for themselves and their families – remaining in Lebanon despite the lack of security and the struggle to secure basic needs or returning to Syria with no guarantees of safety or protection," the SNHR report said.
Around six million Syrian refugees fled their country as a result of the conflict which broke out in 2011, following the Assad regime’s brutal suppression of peaceful pro-democracy protests.
They have faced increasing hostility and discrimination in host countries such as Turkey and Lebanon, with authorities there deporting tens of thousands to Syria in violation of international law.
The SNHR says 208 returning refugees were detained by the Syrian regime since the beginning of 2024, six of whom are known to have died under torture in regime detention centres.
Israel’s war on Lebanon has made matters worse, with over 3,000 people killed there since conflict between Israel and Hezbollah broke out on October 8 2023, most of them after Israel dramatically escalated its war on the country on September 23 this year.