LATEST: Foreign Ministry — More Than 95% Turnout in Overseas Vote for Presidential Election

A week after widespread successes in northwest Syria, insurgents have announced another offensive in Idlib Province.

Opposition forces declared the “Battle of the Passageway”, attacking near Jisr al-Shughour.

Last weekend, insurgents attacked from Khan Shaykhoun north to Ariha in the province, overrunning the regime’s Khazanat base, eliminating the military checkpoints in southern Idlib Province, and taking high ground such as Jabat al-Arbaeen.

The offensive threatened to take the main highway from Damascus to Aleppo and to cut regime access from Idlib to Latakia Province on the Mediterranean coast.

The new attacks are in the west of the province, close to the Turkish border.

Foreign Ministry: More Than 95% Turnout in Overseas Vote for Presidential Election

The Foreign Ministry has said that more than 95% of registered Syrians voted in countries where overseas voting was allowed for Syria’s June 3 election.

The Ministry said balloting took place in 43 countries.

Regime media has featured mass turnout in Lebanon, where there are more than 1 million Syrian refugees. Less attention has been paid to the turnout in other locations.

Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad said the participation “dashed all that Western propaganda has been propagating against (Syrians) over three years” and “reflected remarkable awareness of the Syrians and their belief in their country”.

Lebanon Threatens: Returning Syrians Will Lose Refugee Status

Lebanon’s authorities have warned Syrian refugees that they will lose refugee status if they return to Syria.

“In process of regulating the entry and exit of Syrian nationals into Lebanese territories, all displaced Syrians registered with the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) are to refrain from entering into Syria as of 1 June 2014, under penalty of losing their status as refugees in Lebanon,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The Ministry said the measure was for “preserving Lebanon’s security and the relationship between displaced Syrians-Lebanese citizens in preventing any friction or mutual provocation”.

More than one million Syrians are registered as refugees in Lebanon.