WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Nearly half-a-million internally displaced Syrians have gone back to their homes during the first half of 2017, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said in a press release on Friday.
"Aid agencies estimate that more than 440,000 internally displaced people have returned to their homes in Syria during the first six months of this year," the release stated.
To date, UNHCR has registered more than 31,000 Syrian refugees coming back this year from countries situated close to Syria, according to the release.
Researchers noted that the displaced have returned to Aleppo, Hama, Homs, Damascus and to other governorates primarily because they look for their relatives or check on their houses. Most of the returns are self-organized and, therefore, challenging because of the shortage of food and water as well as because of the dangerous security situation.
The aggression against and subsequent civil war in Syria in 2011 has forced many residents to search for shelter in the neighboring states, which has placed additional pressure on their economies.