Beirut, Nov 22 (IANS): Lebanese Minister of the Displaced Issam Charafeddine said on Friday that 420,000 Syrian refugees had returned from Lebanon to their homeland since the beginning of the Hezbollah-Israel conflict in October 2023, Lebanese news website Elnashra reported.

The Syrian authorities dealt positively with Syrian returnees and the 170,000 displaced Lebanese who had sought refuge in Syria due to the war in Lebanon, Charafeddine said.

Lebanese authorities have repeatedly urged the international community to assist in the return of Syrian refugees to their country of origin, as Lebanon hosts the largest number of refugees per capita, according to the UN Refugee Agency, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Lebanese government estimates that about 1.5 million Syrian refugees reside in the country before the outbreak of the Hezbollah-Israel conflict.

Since the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel erupted, a large number of Syrian refugees have begun returning to their home country.