BEIRUT, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Around 500 displaced Syrians gathered Wednesday in Lebanon's southern town of Shebaa, waiting for buses that will take them to "safe zones in Syria," the National News Agency reported.
The displaced will be evacuated, through the Masnaa border crossing in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa valley, from Shebaa and Hasbaya to Syrian towns of Beit Jinn and Mazraat Bit jin, the report said.
The repatriation was directly coordinated between the Syrian authorities and the refugees themselves.
The chosen safe areas are a direct reflection of Ghouta battle according to a security source who told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that "it is a prelude to a series of successive operations that has nothing to do with the Lebanese government."
The United Nations Higher Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has made direct contacts with the displaced persons making sure their return is voluntary.
The source said Lebanon's General Security Directorate will supervise the transfer and will check their identity papers and accompany them with logistical and security measures.
The United Nations refugee agency said there are more than 1 million Syrian refugees who fled their war-torn country since the eruption of the rebellion against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011.
