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Lebanon: General Security Prepares Mechanism on Return of Syrian Refugees

Syrian refugees prepare to leave Lebanon toward Syrian territory through the Wadi Hamid crossing in Arsal on Oct. 26, 2022. (Getty Images/AFP)
Syrian refugees prepare to leave Lebanon toward Syrian territory through the Wadi Hamid crossing in Arsal on Oct. 26, 2022. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Lebanon: General Security Prepares Mechanism on Return of Syrian Refugees

Syrian refugees prepare to leave Lebanon toward Syrian territory through the Wadi Hamid crossing in Arsal on Oct. 26, 2022. (Getty Images/AFP)
Syrian refugees prepare to leave Lebanon toward Syrian territory through the Wadi Hamid crossing in Arsal on Oct. 26, 2022. (Getty Images/AFP)

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.”

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Quintuplets among Gaza’s Dead as Blinken Travels to the Region to Seek a Ceasefire Deal

A Palestinian man searches for bodies and survivors among the rubble of a destroyed building following an overnight Israeli airstrike on Al-Zawayda neighborhood, central Gaza Strip, 17 August 2024. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
A Palestinian man searches for bodies and survivors among the rubble of a destroyed building following an overnight Israeli airstrike on Al-Zawayda neighborhood, central Gaza Strip, 17 August 2024. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
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Quintuplets among Gaza’s Dead as Blinken Travels to the Region to Seek a Ceasefire Deal

A Palestinian man searches for bodies and survivors among the rubble of a destroyed building following an overnight Israeli airstrike on Al-Zawayda neighborhood, central Gaza Strip, 17 August 2024. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
A Palestinian man searches for bodies and survivors among the rubble of a destroyed building following an overnight Israeli airstrike on Al-Zawayda neighborhood, central Gaza Strip, 17 August 2024. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER

Israeli strikes across Gaza killed 28 people overnight and into Sunday, including young quintuplets, local health officials said, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed to the region to try to seal a ceasefire deal after months of negotiations.

The US and fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar said they were closing in on a deal after two days of talks in Doha, with American and Israeli officials expressing cautious optimism. But Hamas has signaled resistance to what it called new demands by Israel.

The evolving proposal calls for a three-phase process in which Hamas would release all hostages abducted during its Oct. 7 attack, which triggered the deadliest war fought between Israelis and Palestinians. In exchange, Israel would withdraw its forces from Gaza and release Palestinian prisoners.

The war has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, displaced the vast majority of the territory's 2.3 million residents and led experts to warn of famine and the outbreak of diseases like polio.

"It is as if we live a primitive life,” said Sanaa Akela, a displaced Palestinian now in the central town of Deir al-Balah, where sewage flooded some streets.

Hamas-led fighters killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and abducted around 250. Of those, some 110 are still believed to be in Gaza, though Israeli authorities say around a third are dead. More than 100 hostages were released in November during a weeklong ceasefire.

Several children placed in a single body bag  

The latest Israeli bombardment included a strike on a home in Deir al-Balah that killed a woman and her six children, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. An Associated Press reporter there counted the bodies.

Mohammed Awad Khatab, the children's grandfather, said his daughter was a teacher, and the youngest child was 18 months. The others were 10-year-old quintuplets, the hospital said.

“The six children have become body parts. They were placed in a single bag,” he told reporters. “What did they do? Did they kill any of the Jews? ... Will this provide security to Israel?”

Another strike east of Deir al-Balah killed at least four people, according to an AP journalist at the hospital. A strike in the northern town of Jabaliya hit two apartments, killing two men, a woman and her daughter, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.  

Another two strikes in central Gaza killed nine people, according to Al-Awda Hospital.  

Late Saturday, a strike near the southern city of Khan Younis killed four people from the same family, including two women, according to Nasser Hospital.

Israel says it only targets fighters and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the group conceals gunmen, weapons, tunnels and rockets in residential areas. But the Israeli bombardment has wiped out entire extended families and orphaned thousands of children.

Israel says ‘cautious optimism’ about ceasefire talks  

Mediation efforts gained new urgency after the targeted killing of two top militants last month, both attributed to Israel, brought vows of revenge from Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah, raising fears of an all-out war across the Middle East.

An American official said Friday that mediators were beginning preparations for implementing the latest ceasefire proposal, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office expressed “cautious optimism” that a deal could be reached.

An Israeli delegation was traveling to Cairo on Sunday for further talks, and Blinken will meet with Netanyahu on Monday morning.

Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting there are areas where Israel can be flexible and unspecified areas where it won’t be. “We are conducting negotiations and not a scenario in which we just give and give,” he said.

Hamas has cast doubt on whether an agreement is near, saying the latest proposal diverged significantly from a previous iteration it had accepted in principle.  

Hamas has rejected Israel’s demands for a lasting military presence along the Gaza-Egypt border and a line bisecting Gaza where Israeli forces would search Palestinians returning to their homes. Israel says both are needed to prevent militants from rearming and returning to the north.

Israel showed flexibility on retreating from the border corridor, and a meeting between Egyptian and Israeli military officials was scheduled for the week ahead to agree on a withdrawal mechanism, according to two Egyptian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the private negotiations.