Speaker Nabih Berri has reiterated calls for the return of Syrian refugees to their country via coordination with the Syrian regime, according to a statement from his office Monday.
“We can no longer bury our heads in the sand. We must make agreements with the [Syrian] state to return refugees,” Berri said during a reception in Doha hosted by Lebanese Ambassador to Qatar Hasan Najem. The speaker had arrived in the Qatari capital on Saturday to participate in the 140th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Berri and his Amal Movement, along with Hezbollah and President Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement have openly called for normalizing ties with Damascus and coordinating with the regime to ensure a safe return of Syrian refugees from Lebanon.
But Prime Minister Saad Hariri and his Future Movement, the Lebanese Forces and the Progressive Socialist Party staunchly oppose any direct contacts with the regime until a political solution to the conflict there is reached.
The speaker then turned to the issue of Lebanon’s territorial sovereignty, calling for an end to “tampering with the demarcation of Lebanon’s maritime borders.”
Berri has on several occasions warned against Israeli encroachment on potential oil and gas reserves in waters disputed by Israel and Lebanon. Lebanon is hoping to begin its first exploratory drilling in one of two maritime areas later this year - one of which lies partially in the disputed territory.
Despite Lebanon’s massive public debt, which reached approximately 150 percent of the GDP in 2018, Berri said that the country was enjoying “financial stability.”
Nevertheless, he called on Lebanon’s “brothers and friends” to continue investing in the country’s future in order to aid its return to “economic peace.”
This article has been adapted from its original source.
