MOSCOW, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 1.5 million internally displaced people and overseas refugees had returned home in Syria thanks to international efforts, a Russian military officer said Wednesday.

Nearly 250,000 of them returned to Syria from abroad, said Yevgeny Ilyin, a representative of the Russian Interdepartmental Staff for Return of Refugees in Syria, according to a press release of the Russian Defense Ministry.

At a meeting of the interdepartmental coordination headquarters of Russia and Syria, he said the growing support of foreign countries and international organizations had helped restore social facilities and infrastructure in the war-torn country.

Schools, bakeries, water-pump stations, electric substations and medical institutions among other facilities have been rebuilt in 216 settlements, Ilyin said.

"Chinese entrepreneurs joined in this work and the restoration of a number of infrastructure facilities was started with their participation," he said.

Russian diplomatic institutions will continue active work to mobilize international efforts to facilitate the return of Syrian refugees to their places of residence, Russian Foreign Ministry representative Nikolai Burtsev said at the meeting.