Reuters: 'Logistics' hold up Lebanese deal for rebels, refugees to return to Syria - Aug. 12, 2017

Reuters: ‘Logistics’ hold up Lebanese deal for rebels, refugees to return to Syria

Published Aug. 12, 2017. Updated Aug. 12 at 4:10 pm

Members of the Syrian civil defence volunteers, also known as the White Helmets, bury their fellow comrades during a funeral in Sarmin, a jihadist-held town nine kilometres east of Syria's northwestern city of Idlib on August 12, after seven were shot dead early in the morning during a raid on their base, according to the organisation.

Photo by AFP

BEIRUT – Implementation of a deal for the return of a group of Syrian refugees and rebels to Syria from Lebanon was delayed on Saturday, with a military news outlet run by the Lebanese group Hezbollah saying it was due to “a logistical problem”.

Some 300 Syrian rebels from a group called Saraya Ahl al-Sham in addition to 3,000 refugees were due to be transported back into Syria on Saturday under the agreement. A Lebanese source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said talks were continuing to resolve the problem, without saying what it was.