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Lebanon Planning to Return Syrian Refugees Home without Int’l Guarantees

A view shows an informal camp for Syrian refugees in Qab Elias, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley June 28, 2022. (Reuters)
A view shows an informal camp for Syrian refugees in Qab Elias, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley June 28, 2022. (Reuters)
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Lebanon Planning to Return Syrian Refugees Home without Int’l Guarantees

A view shows an informal camp for Syrian refugees in Qab Elias, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley June 28, 2022. (Reuters)
A view shows an informal camp for Syrian refugees in Qab Elias, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley June 28, 2022. (Reuters)

Lebanon is again trying to return Syrian refugees on its territories back to their war-torn country.

Caretaker Minister of the Displaced Issam Sharafeddine revealed that intense talks are underway with Syria to ensure the “safe and dignified” return of refugees to their home.

The plan enjoys the support of Lebanese President Michel Aoun and his political team, Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi and Christian leaders, including head of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea.

The plan however, lacks international guarantees that would ensure that the Syrians are protected and enjoy social support once they go back home.

Sharafeddine has discussed the return of refugees with Aoun.

The Syrian state, he revealed, has been receptive of the Lebanese efforts and is ready to provide shelter and the necessary infrastructure and make sure the refugees return to their villages and towns.

Should the plan go ahead, the minister is hoping that some 15,000 refugees would leave Lebanon each month.

The plan is in line with a legal study carried out by Dr. Paul Morcos, president of the JUSTICIA legal firm. The study is based on Lebanese laws and an understanding signed between Lebanon and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). It also adheres to international treaties signed by Lebanon.

Sharafeddine said international organizations were still reviewing the refugee plan.

He revealed that he had discussed it with UNHCR representative in Lebanon, Ayaki Ito.

“We agreed on some points, while others require more revision,” said the minister.

The representative expressed concern over the fate of opponents of the Syrian regime. The minister suggested that the opponents would sign a declaration that they would not discuss military affairs in Syria or the Commission could deport them to another country.

Morcos told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Lebanese people are unanimous in supporting the return of Syrian refugees to their homes.

Lebanon cannot support the burden of the 1.8 million Syrians it is harboring, he added.

He cited a UNHCR memo that says countries have the legal right to expel people it believes no longer need international protection and that their countries of origin have a duty in repatriating them.

Their return must be humane and dignified and their rights must be fully respected, he added.

Morcos said the Lebanese plan takes into account refugee concerns that they may be forcefully returned home. He added that his study legally obligates Lebanese authorities to grant any refugee enough time to object against their deportation and provide the justifications for it.

Former Minister of the Displaced Maeen al-Merehbi criticized the new deportation plan, saying it was “doomed to fail.”

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he noted that Syrians from the Homs countryside, al-Qusayr, al-Qalamoun and other areas bordering Lebanon are barred from returning home.

Refugees from those regions are under constant pressure to sell their properties as part of the forced displacement and demographic change in those areas.

“The best way to facilitate the return of Syrians to their country starts with putting an end to oppression practiced by Bashar Assad’s gangs against the returning refugees,” he stressed.

He cited how returning refugees are often victims of abduction, terrorized, killed and those eligible, are forced to enlist in the military.

The return of refugees is constantly tied to a political solution in Syria that is beyond reach.

Merehbi recalled a past Russian initiative to return the displaced, which he said turned out to be a “media ploy to garner Arab and international support to rebuild Syria, when in fact the Russians were the real partners in the displacement of the Syrian people.”

He criticized caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati for joining the plan to return the refugees home, saying he is “handing over the victims to the butcher and will be responsible for the lives that will be lost once they go back.”

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Arab World

Israeli Forces Raid Town of Suspected Palestinian Gunman

Israeli forces take part in a raid in the Palestinian town of Biddu, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, September 21, 2026. REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman
Israeli forces take part in a raid in the Palestinian town of Biddu, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, September 21, 2026. REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman
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Israeli Forces Raid Town of Suspected Palestinian Gunman

Israeli forces take part in a raid in the Palestinian town of Biddu, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, September 21, 2026. REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman
Israeli forces take part in a raid in the Palestinian town of Biddu, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, September 21, 2026. REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman

Israeli forces on Monday raided the hometown of a Palestinian man suspected of shooting dead an Israeli settler in the occupied West Bank the day before, local authorities said.

Sunday's shooting occurred near the Israeli settlement of Neveh Tzuf, north of Ramallah, on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, with the suspected assailant apprehended by soldiers after being located at a hospital.

Israel's military told AFP on Sunday that its troops had raided the home of the attacker's family in the Palestinian village of Biddu, northwest of Jerusalem in the West Bank.

The Jerusalem Governorate, the Palestinian local authority for the area, said Israeli forces then raided Biddu at dawn on Monday and "carried out a large-scale arrest campaign targeting dozens of young men".

"The raid was accompanied by searches, vandalism, and the smashing of property inside a number of homes, as well as physical assaults on several residents," it said, adding that the raid was ongoing.

When asked by AFP, the Israeli military said it was checking the reports.

An AFP photographer saw Israeli forces in the town on Monday morning.

Biddu's mayor, Nazmi Mansour, told AFP that the military had stormed the town after midnight with "dozens of military jeeps and hundreds of soldiers".

"The soldiers began house-to-house searches and set up field interrogation centers in buildings they had taken control of," he said, adding that dozens of people were questioned.

"The army is still present in the town and has closed off its entrances, and all commercial shops are shut," he told AFP by telephone.

Israel's army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said at the site of the attack Sunday that the military remained "on high alert".

"We will impose a closure on the village and conduct investigations, through which we will reach everyone who assisted the terrorist," Zamir said.

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called for the attacker to be the first person executed under a recently approved death penalty law.

The new law imposes the death penalty by default on Palestinians from the West Bank convicted on terror charges for deadly attacks.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and violence there has surged since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which sparked the Gaza war.

Arab World

Lebanon Seeks UNIFIL Mandate Extension amid Lack of Agreement on Alternative

Jordan’s King Abdullah II, French President Emmanuel Macron and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun pose for a photo before an Aqaba Process meeting in support of the Lebanese Armed Forces at Les Invalides in Paris. (AFP)
Jordan’s King Abdullah II, French President Emmanuel Macron and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun pose for a photo before an Aqaba Process meeting in support of the Lebanese Armed Forces at Les Invalides in Paris. (AFP)
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Lebanon Seeks UNIFIL Mandate Extension amid Lack of Agreement on Alternative

Jordan’s King Abdullah II, French President Emmanuel Macron and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun pose for a photo before an Aqaba Process meeting in support of the Lebanese Armed Forces at Les Invalides in Paris. (AFP)
Jordan’s King Abdullah II, French President Emmanuel Macron and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun pose for a photo before an Aqaba Process meeting in support of the Lebanese Armed Forces at Les Invalides in Paris. (AFP)

Lebanon is intensifying international and Arab diplomatic efforts to avert a security vacuum in the south when the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), tasked by the UN Security Council with implementing Resolution 1701, expires at the end of the year.

President Joseph Aoun raised the issue at a summit with French President Emmanuel Macron and Jordan’s King Abdullah II on the sidelines of a preparatory conference in Paris to support the Lebanese Army and Internal Security Forces.

The matter is also expected to top Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s agenda during his meetings in New York, where he is leading Lebanon’s delegation to the 81st UN General Assembly, and later in Washington, where he is due to meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Lebanon is placing importance on peace talks in New York and on a meeting with Rubio to prevent a security vacuum in the south if UNIFIL withdraws, amid a lack of agreement on an international body to replace it.

UNIFIL commander Major General Diodato Abagnara warned of the issue, questioning which authority would take over from the mission, saying that “more than half of our positions in southern Lebanon are under Israeli control.”

A ministerial source said Aoun raised concerns about a potential vacuum during his talks with Macron and King Abdullah.

The source told Asharq Al-Awsat that both leaders shared those concerns and promised to contact US President Donald Trump to seek his approval, at Aoun’s request, for extending UNIFIL’s mandate by six months to a year.

Such an extension, the source added, could help activate the “framework agreement” and expand “pilot zones” where the Lebanese Army could deploy with UNIFIL support.

Macron and King Abdullah are also counting on Trump’s commitment to help Lebanon implement the agreement under UNIFIL supervision or that of any UN force that might replace it, according to the source.

European Union countries understand Lebanon’s concerns and are working to formulate a proposal before the end of October that would preserve an international presence in the south to accompany a phased Israeli withdrawal if efforts to persuade Trump to extend UNIFIL’s mandate fail.

The source stressed that any replacement should operate under UN auspices rather than leave the international presence limited to the US-dominated “Mechanism” committee, from which Washington has excluded France.

A European official was quoted as saying that Lebanon should not be left alone in calling for an international force to replace UNIFIL and that European countries would support efforts to prevent a vacuum, including during meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Lebanon is also insisting that Israel evacuate the Ali al-Taher hills and hand them over to the Lebanese Army, alongside the establishment of a monitoring post there with a predominantly US presence.

Israel has refused to hand the area to the army and wants the Lebanese request placed on the agenda of an eighth round of negotiations, which Rome would host for a third time. No date has yet been set.

The ministerial source said Washington, as sponsor of the framework agreement, is responsible for setting up the date. The United States is currently pressing Israel to agree to expand the “pilot zones,” he added.

But US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee’s statement that Israeli forces would remain in the south until the Lebanese Army becomes strong offered little grounds for optimism, the source said. Israel has continued targeting areas retaken in the south, preventing the Lebanese Army from deploying there, and has yet to agree to a verification mechanism to ensure areas are free of Hezbollah weapons and fighters.

A Western diplomat said Lebanon’s friends, particularly several European countries, have begun questioning why Trump has not followed through on commitments he made to Aoun during their Washington summit.

Concerns over a possible UN vacuum in the south are expected to feature prominently in Arab and European discussions with Trump and senior US officials.

The diplomat said Lebanon’s allies had little choice but to support Aoun and Salam’s government in strengthening the state’s position vis-à-vis Hezbollah, questioning what the seventh round of negotiations had achieved.

He argued that Lebanon could not afford to postpone implementation of the framework agreement until after Israel’s Knesset elections.

The ministerial source accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of continuing to bulldoze towns and systematically destroy homes on the pretext of eliminating remaining Hezbollah military infrastructure. He said Netanyahu was primarily seeking to push Lebanon into abandoning the negotiations and boycotting the eighth round unless Israeli attacks ceased.

Aoun, however, remains committed to negotiations and will not be drawn into what the source described as Netanyahu’s strategy. In the source’s view, Netanyahu accepted the framework agreement under US pressure but has avoided implementing it ahead of the Israeli elections.

The source also pointed to parliament’s third renewal of confidence in Salam’s government as evidence that a majority of lawmakers remained committed to the framework agreement and to the principle that weapons should be held exclusively by the state.

He nevertheless warned that Lebanon’s worsening cost-of-living crisis could put the government at odds with much of the population unless it finds ways to ease pressure on low-income households — something that would require financial assistance from Arab and international partners.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, continues to insist on retaining its weapons and rejects the framework agreement. The group was surprised by the renewed confidence vote in Salam’s government, particularly after Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Gebran Bassil unexpectedly proposed it at the end of parliament’s questioning of the government.

Hezbollah left the chamber before voting began.

The group has also rejected local and Arab mediation efforts urging it to hand over an initial batch of offensive weapons as long as it stays committed not to respond to Israeli attacks.

The source underlined that such a move would open the way for Hezbollah to join the state project rather than remain isolated, particularly as it bets on an Iranian-US memorandum of understanding whose implementation reached an impasse, compounded by Washington’s refusal to link Lebanon to the Iranian track.

Arab World

Iraq Court Delays Ruling on Dissolving Kurdistan Parliament, Government

Barzani announces the start of the new school year (Kurdistan Regional Government)
Barzani announces the start of the new school year (Kurdistan Regional Government)
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Iraq Court Delays Ruling on Dissolving Kurdistan Parliament, Government

Barzani announces the start of the new school year (Kurdistan Regional Government)
Barzani announces the start of the new school year (Kurdistan Regional Government)

Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court on Sunday postponed consideration of two lawsuits challenging the continued legitimacy of the Kurdistan Region’s parliament and government, setting Oct. 26 as a new date for a ruling.

The cases seek the dissolution of the regional parliament and an end to the government’s full powers following nearly two years of political deadlock that has prevented the legislature elected in October 2024 from functioning normally.

Meanwhile, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, speaking at a ceremony marking the start of the 2026-2027 school year in Erbil on Sunday, called for the rule of law to prevail throughout Iraq.

“All weapons outside the authority of the state, the government and legitimate institutions must be disarmed,” Barzani said.

Armed factions have made their own disarmament conditional on the decision also applying to the Kurdish Peshmerga and on the force being placed under the orders of Iraq’s commander-in-chief rather than the regional government.

Kurdish authorities reject that demand, citing Article 121(5) of Iraq’s constitution, which grants the regional government responsibility for establishing and organizing internal security forces, including police, security services and regional guards.

Barzani also urged members of the Kurdistan Parliament to “end their boycott of sessions and fulfill their national and oversight duties,” stressing that reactivating parliament was the “first and essential step” toward forming a new regional government.

Political deadlock

The Kurdistan Region has been mired in political paralysis since its October 2024 parliamentary elections. The new legislature has met only once, in January 2025, and has failed to elect a permanent speaker or pave the way for the formation of a new government.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), led by Masoud Barzani, won 39 of the 100 seats, while the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), headed by Bafel Talabani, secured 23. The New Generation Movement came third with 15 seats.

Deep disagreements between the KDP and PUK over the composition of the government and distribution of senior posts have stalled the process.

Former regional lawmaker Ali Hama Salih filed the two lawsuits with the Federal Supreme Court.

The first challenges the constitutionality of allowing the current parliament to continue after it failed to perform its legislative duties following its inaugural January 2025 session.

The second seeks to strip the Kurdistan Regional Government of its full governing mandate and reduce it to caretaker status, barring it from making strategic decisions or entering into long-term contracts and legal commitments.

Court weighs cases

Commenting on the postponement, Kurdish writer and adviser Kifah Mahmoud said the Federal Supreme Court appeared to want more time to examine the situation and consult the parties to the cases.

Mahmoud told Asharq Al-Awsat that governments normally assume caretaker status once a parliament’s term ends, but argued that Kurdistan’s circumstances were different because the current government had continued implementing strategic road, water and electricity projects despite financial difficulties.

He attributed part of the political impasse to one party seeking greater gains than its parliamentary representation warranted, an apparent reference to the PUK.

Mahmoud nevertheless described negotiations between the KDP and PUK as “positive,” saying they could lead to a coalition government.

KDP spokesman Mahmoud Mohammed separately confirmed that his party was holding “serious and intensive” talks with political forces to resolve outstanding issues.

He said meetings between the KDP and PUK would continue away from media spotlight in an effort to reactivate parliament and move ahead with forming a new Kurdistan Regional Government.

The resumption of parliamentary activity, he added, would depend on the outcome of those talks.