Mikati to Int’l Community: Lebanon to Expel Syrian Refugees If You Don't Cooperate

Mikati speaking at the launch of the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (NNA)
Mikati speaking at the launch of the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (NNA)
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Mikati to Int’l Community: Lebanon to Expel Syrian Refugees If You Don't Cooperate

Mikati speaking at the launch of the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (NNA)
Mikati speaking at the launch of the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (NNA)

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, called on the international community to cooperate with Lebanon in order to return the displaced Syrians to their country.

“I call on the international community to cooperate with Lebanon to return the displaced Syrians to their country. Otherwise, Lebanon will adopt an undesirable stance for western countries by working on removing Syrians from Lebanon by legal means,” Mikati said.

His remarks came during the launching of the 2022 Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP) which was attended by Lebanese Minister for Social Affairs Hector Hajjar and the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, Najat Rochdi.

The conference launched the 2022-2023 Lebanon Crisis Response Plan, which is co-led by the Lebanese government and the United Nations, to assist the 1.5 million Lebanese in need, 1.5 million displaced Syrians and more than 209,000 Palestinian refugees in the country.

“Our meeting takes place amid an unprecedented crisis facing Lebanon, which hosts a large proportion of displaced Syrians… This requires shedding light on its needs of financial and economic capabilities to revitalize all the sectors,” Mikati underlined.

He also stressed the importance to prioritize support for local administrations, facilities, infrastructure, resources and public services that are exhausted due to human pressure, in parallel with humanitarian support for the most vulnerable groups of displaced Syrians and Lebanese host communities.

“Over the past eleven years, Lebanon has endured an unbearable stressful burden, due to the presence of more than 1.7 million displaced Syrians and Palestinian refugees living throughout the country. We warmly and voluntarily welcomed the displaced Syrians. This is our humanitarian duty. Lebanon has shown the highest levels of hospitality for the displaced Syrians, despite the weakness and fragility of our host societies, which are increasingly in need,” the caretaker premier remarked.

He continued: “Our current situation is radically different from what it was in the past. We are now going through one of the most severe economic, financial, social and political crises in the world. As a result, about 85 percent of the Lebanese people now live below the poverty line.

“In addition, about a third of Lebanon’s population is now displaced and suffering from poverty as well, which means that 11 years after the start of the Syrian crisis, Lebanon no longer has the ability to bear all this burden, especially under the current circumstances.”

At the conference, the Lebanese government and its national and international partners appealed for USD 3.2 billion to deliver critical assistance to people in need and to support Lebanon’s public infrastructure, services and local economy.

“With the continuing impact of the Syria crisis and the current economic crisis in Lebanon pushing everyone to the brink, partners’ joint efforts to support refugees and the host community through the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan remain essential,” Rochdi said.

“Nine out of 10 Syrians in Lebanon are living in poverty, and the poverty levels have also risen substantially for Lebanese, migrants and Palestinians. These circumstances are driving negative coping mechanisms, as families are forced to send their children to work instead of school, skip meals or incur debt," she added.



Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
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Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb

An Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center on Sunday killed one soldier and wounded 18 others, the Lebanese military said.

It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes that have killed over 40 Lebanese troops, even as the military has largely kept to the sidelines in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has said previous strikes on Lebanese troops were accidental and that they are not a target of its campaign against Hezbollah.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned it as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.

“(Israel is) again writing in Lebanese blood a brazen rejection of the solution that is being discussed,” a statement from his office read.

The strike occurred in southwestern Lebanon on the coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, where there has been heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes since the rocket fire began, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war, as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.

Israeli airstrikes early Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 20 people and wounding 66, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Hezbollah has continued to fire regular barrages into Israel, forcing people to race for shelters and occasionally killing or wounding them.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardments in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north.

Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets into northern and central Israel on Sunday, some of which were intercepted.

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said it was treating two people in the central city of Petah Tikva, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast and a 70-year-old woman suffering from smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire. The first responders said they also treated two women in their 50s who were wounded in northern Israel.

It was unclear whether the injuries and damage were caused by the rockets or interceptors.

The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was back in the region last week.

The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol the area, with the presence of UN peacekeepers.