Lebanon Seeks to Deport Half of Syrian Refugees to their Homeland

In this Monday, April 23, 2018 photo, Syrian refugee children play outside their family tents at a Syrian refugee camp in the town of Bar Elias, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
In this Monday, April 23, 2018 photo, Syrian refugee children play outside their family tents at a Syrian refugee camp in the town of Bar Elias, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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Lebanon Seeks to Deport Half of Syrian Refugees to their Homeland

In this Monday, April 23, 2018 photo, Syrian refugee children play outside their family tents at a Syrian refugee camp in the town of Bar Elias, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
In this Monday, April 23, 2018 photo, Syrian refugee children play outside their family tents at a Syrian refugee camp in the town of Bar Elias, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Lebanon’s General Security Directorate decided to prepare its own detailed information about the Syrian refugees residing in Lebanon after complaints that the UNHCR has disregarded demands to submit the data about the displaced to Lebanese authorities.
The General Security wants all Syrian refugees living on Lebanese soil to submit their documents at specific centers of the Directorate detailing their entry and current status.
Sources at the Directorate told Asharq Al-Awsat that the UNHCR "was given enough time" to expand Lebanon’s access to more information about Syrian refugees, noting that the UN agency has failed to cooperate.
“We have decided to gather the information ourselves”, said the sources on condition of anonymity. Syrian refugees are expected to present their documents at specified centers of the directorate expanding over various Lebanese regions, they said.
“All this data will be put together at a center in the Damour area. Syrian refugees entering Lebanon before 2015 and those who do not possess work permits or legal residency documents will be deported”, added the sources.
They said more than half the Syrian refugees could be deported after these measures are put in place.
In December, the General Security received, after months of delay, data from the UNHCR listing the names of 486 thousand refugees without detailing their entry dates or registration info. Lebanon requested the agency to provide detailed lists in order to determine their legal status.
About the UNHCR’s rejection to present Lebanese authorities with the required data, the UN agency’s spokeswoman Lisa Abou Khaled, said that discussions are underway regarding the matter, affirming that a meeting has indeed been held with the General Security to discuss the Lebanese government’s request about refugees.
“The UNHCR is here to support Lebanon, while simultaneously meeting its international obligations in the field of data protection and international refugee law,” she told the daily.
She explained that processing personal data is an integral part of the UNHCR’s mission of providing international protection and humanitarian assistance to forcibly displaced persons.
Since 2011, Syrian refugees have randomly flocked into Lebanon through legal and other illegal crossings making it extremely difficult for authorities to have realistic data about their presence.
Lebanon, which has been mired in a crushing economic crisis since late 2019, says it hosts around two million Syrians, the world's highest number of refugees per capita, with almost 785,000 registered with the United Nations.



Sudan’s RSF Kill More Than 30 in a New Attack on a Darfur City, Activists Say 

People displaced following Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks on Zamzam displacement camp shelter in the town of Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan April 15, 2025. (Reuters)
People displaced following Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks on Zamzam displacement camp shelter in the town of Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan April 15, 2025. (Reuters)
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Sudan’s RSF Kill More Than 30 in a New Attack on a Darfur City, Activists Say 

People displaced following Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks on Zamzam displacement camp shelter in the town of Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan April 15, 2025. (Reuters)
People displaced following Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks on Zamzam displacement camp shelter in the town of Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan April 15, 2025. (Reuters)

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked a city in the western Darfur region, killing more than 30 people, an activist group said, in the latest deadly offensive on an area that is home to hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

The RSF and allied militias launched an offensive on el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province, on Sunday, according to the Resistance Committees, an activist group. Dozens of other people were wounded in the attack, said the group, which tracks the war.

The RSF renewed its attack on Monday, shelling residential buildings and open markets in the city, the group said. There was no immediate comment from the RSF.

El-Fasher, more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) southwest of the capital, Khartoum, is under the control of the military, which has fought the RSF since Sudan descended into civil war more than two years ago, killing more than 24,000 people, according to the United Nations, though activists say the number is likely far higher.

The RSF has been attempting to seize el-Fasher for a year to complete its control of the entire Darfur region. Since then, it has launched many attacks on the city and two major famine-hit camps for displaced people on its outskirts.

The city is now estimated to be home to more than 1 million people, many of whom have been displaced by the ongoing war and previous bouts of violence in Darfur.

The attacks on el-Fasher have intensified in recent months as the RSF suffered battlefield setbacks in Khartoum and other urban areas in the county’s east and center.

Sunday’s violence came less than a week after a two-day attack by the RSF and its allied militias on the city and the Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps killed more than 400 people, according to the United Nations.

Last week’s attack forced up to 400,000 people to flee the Zamzam camp, Sudan’s largest, which has become inaccessible to aid workers, UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said.