Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary-General of the Lebanese political and paramilitary party Hezbollah, called on displaced residents of al-Qusayr, the western countryside of Homs, to return to their city, al Qusayr.

In a televised speech on Friday, September 2o, in Hezbollah stronghold  in the southern part of the Lebanese capital Beirut, Nasrallah stated, “we have sorted our situation in al-Qusayr to allow for the full return of people of the town and the [surrounding] villages.”

Hezbollah party, Nasrallah pointed out,  coordinated with the Syrian regime the return procedures of al-Qusayr’s displaced residents, including both Syrian and Lebanese residents of the area, calling on those wishing to return to their home to register their names in the Lebanese general security.

“The procedures were initiated a long time ago by the Syrian government in Syria. And what matters to me today is to announce to the displaced residents of al-Qusayr towns and villages currently in Lebanon that they will return to their homes within agreed oversight controls and mechanisms adopted by the Lebanese general security and the concerned authorities in Syria.”

In June 2013, mainly backed by Hezbollah, the Syrian regime forces controlled al-Qusayr city after bombing it and rendering thousands of its residents displaced.

Al-Qusayr is Hezbollah’s gateway to intervention in Syria alongside the Syrian regime against the “Free Army” factions, formed in response to the repression and killing of the nonviolent demonstrators.

In the past years, Hezbollah turned al-Qusayr into its main base and starting point for its military operations which expanded to the rest of the Syrian areas, particularly the border areas with Lebanon.

After al-Qusayr fell to Hezbollah forces, the party held a military parade for its troops in al-Qusayr. Additionally, Hezbollah led the first military intervention taking over Yabroud, Rankous, Qara, Flita and the entire Syrian border with Lebanon.

Further, Hezbollah continued to expand its influence in the remaining Syrian areas in Homs, Southern Syria, and Aleppo, in which it played an instrumental role in battles that ended with taking over eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo in late 2016.

Further, Hezbollah continued to expand its influence in the remaining Syrian areas in Homs, Southern Syria, and Aleppo, in which it played an instrumental role in battles that ended with taking over eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo in late 2016.

Hezbollah’s announcement of reducing its forces in Syria coincides with the Syrian regime’s declaration of returning the first batch of the displaced residents of al-Qusayr to their houses after nearly seven years of displacement and talking about service restoration in order to bring the city to what it was before 2011.