MOSCOW, July 30 (Xinhua) -- About 1.2 million Syrian refugees have returned to their homes since September 2015, when Russia launched an operation against "terrorists" in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry was quoted as saying by Sputnik.

According to the country's ministry-affiliated Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star) newspaper, as many as 1.186 million internally displaced Syrians have returned to their homes from refugees' camps during this period.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on July 20 that more than 6.9 million people have left Syria since 2011 when the Syrian civil war broke out, most of whom are living in 45 countries.