Lebanese President Michel Aoun said on Friday world powers must work with Damascus to create safe zones in Syria so refugees can return to their country.
It was the first time the Beirut government had lent its support to such a plan. At least a million people have fled the Syrian civil war since 2011 into Lebanon, which has an estimated total population of less than six million.
Lebanon would not force unsafe return on any refugees, but the international community must make their return possible, Aoun's office quoted him as saying in a meeting on Friday with U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.