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UN: 'Significant Number' of Displaced Syrians Returning Home

by VOA News

   Almost a half-million displaced Syrians have returned to their homes
   since the beginning of the year, mostly to check on property and
   relatives, according to estimates from the United Nations.

   The U.N. refugee agency said Friday it had seen a "notable trend of
   spontaneous returns" this year, and estimated that more than 440,000
   internally displaced Syrians and another 31,000 refugees who left the
   country had returned home.

   Andrej Mahecic, a spokesman for the agency, told reporters Friday in
   Geneva that it marked "a significant trend and a significant number."
   He said people returning home were "seeking out family members,
   checking on property, and, in some cases, a real or perceived
   improvement in security conditions in parts of the country."

   He cautioned, though, that the returnees are "only a small fraction" of
   the roughly 5 million Syrian refugees estimated to have fled the
   country.

   More than 320,000 people have been killed since the Syrian civil war
   began in 2011.