Lebanon’s caretaker Minister of the Displaced Issam Sharafeddine is set to visit Damascus after the Eid al-Adha holiday, ending Beirut's official boycott of the regime.
The minister will make the first official visit by a Lebanese official to the war-torn country since 2011.
He will discuss with officials means to return Syrian refugees back to their homes.
Lebanese government officials have paid visits to Damascus after 2011 but only on a “personal” basis. None of the trips had an official character in line with the boycott of the regime.
Sharafeddine has been tasked by President Michel Aoun and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati to travel to Damascus to discuss with officials a Lebanese plan on repatriating the refugees.
A committee consisting of Mikati, Sharafeddine, six other ministers and the country’s General Security organization had been working on the proposal since March to gradually return some 1.5 million Syrian refugees from Lebanon.
Sharafeddine told Asharq Al-Awsat the talks in Damascus aim to discuss a mechanism through which they can be returned. He will also address the Syrian government’s ability to take in refugees and secure the necessary conditions for them once they return.
Lebanon has one of the world's highest numbers of refugees per capita and currently hosts over 1 million Syrians who fled the decade-old conflict. Officials say the influx has cost Lebanon billions of dollars and further damaged its crippled infrastructure while it struggles with a financial meltdown.
The Lebanese government's plan would entail sending back 15,000 Syrian refugees every month.
Human rights organizations in recent reports have documented cases of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, and a host of human rights violations against returning refugees.
In remarks to The Associated Press, Sharafeddine rejected these reports as a "fear campaign" and said the Syrian government has agreed to drop charges against former opposition fighters and political opposition.
The United Nations estimates that 90% of Syrian refugee households live in extreme poverty. But since late 2019, poverty has worsened for both Lebanese and Syrians as the Mediterranean country continues to struggle with crippling economic crisis. Sky-rocketing fuel prices coupled with a currency collapse has meant many essential commodities are now out of reach.
In recent months, a surge of Lebanese, Syrians, and Palestinians have tried to flee cash-strapped Lebanon by sea to Europe.
"We have statistics from the Interior Ministry of the names of the displaced, where they live, and where they’re originally from, and so we would return them by neighborhood," Sharafeddine said.
He said Lebanon is willing to repatriate refugees in larger numbers if the Syrian government is able to receive them "at a later stage".
