Lebanon should not continue to pay the price for regional peace after already suffering the effects of recent wars and crises, President Michel Aoun told foreign diplomats Wednesday.
The international community should not wait for a political solution to the 8-year-old Syrian crisis before encouraging refugees to return to their country, the president said during an event held at Baabda Palace to honor the diplomatic corps on the occasion of the new year.
“Lebanon has born the results of neighboring wars and Syrian refugees. It is true we freed our land from terrorism and disrupted most sleeper cells ... but the refugee crisis still weighs on us economically and socially, and on security,” Aoun said.
The United Nations refugee agency recently told The Daily Star that it had recorded the return of just fewer than 15,000 refugees to Syria in 2018. General Security recently said that it had recorded the return of some 110,000 refugees.
But according to the UNHCR, about 950,000 registered Syrian refugees remain in Lebanon, and Lebanese officials estimate that hundreds of thousands more reside in the country.
Aoun reiterated his long-standing position that the international community is not doing enough to encourage the refugees to return, and is even discouraging them from doing so. He also claimed once again that most areas in Syria are safe enough for refugees to go back to.
By contrast, at least two Lebanese ministers have said that tens of Syrian refugees have been killed since returning to their country, though the UNHCR has not confirmed their claims.
Aoun also briefly commented on the monthslong Cabinet formation process, saying that Lebanon’s economic situation as well as regional pressures did not allow for any continuation in the delay. Even so, the seven-and-a-half-month Cabinet vacuum has shown no sign of ending anytime soon, as political factions stick to as yet irreconcilable demands.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
