Lebanon’s Acting Director General of General Security, Brigadier General Elias Baissari, has exerted efforts to adopt a mechanism for the return of Syrian refugees, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Saturday.
On Thursday, Baissari was assigned by caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati to follow up on the issue of returning the displaced Syrians to their country.
According to official data, as many as 540,000 Syrians voluntarily returned to Syria from Lebanon since 2017.
The security sources said that in 2017, Lebanon launched a campaign to deport Syrians who entered illegally.
They said the campaign was based on a decision taken by the Higher Defense Council to start deporting refugees who entered Lebanon illegally.
The sources also pointed out that the recent meeting of the ministerial committee concerned with refugee affairs gave security forces the green light for a broader effort to deport undocumented Syrian nationals.
“The situation is no longer bearable. Lebanon’s prisons no longer accommodate more detainees. Therefore, every Syrian who has no official documents allowing him to stay on Lebanese soil, will be immediately returned to Syria,” the sources confirmed.
In a related development, Lebanese caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib met Saturday with the Deputy Director General and Head of the Middle East and North Africa Department at the Swedish Foreign Ministry, Sophie Baker, requesting an official clarification regarding the statements circulated in videos on social media by Swedish citizen, Kamal al-Labwani, in which he calls on the displaced Syrians in Lebanon to violate Lebanese laws and to take up arms in the country.
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry said it continues to follow up on developments in the case “which impacts national security,” until it obtains the desired clarifications from the concerned authorities.
Meanwhile, the Parliament’s Administration and Justice Committee Chair, MP George Adwan, discussed Saturday with UN Special Coordinator in Lebanon Joanna Wronica the crisis of the Syrian refugees.
Adwan stressed “the need to immediately implement practical steps for their return to their country, and for the international community to cooperate with the Lebanese authorities and provide assistance to the refugees in their country to encourage them to return.”
