in-cyprus 14 May 2024
The leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, urged the Lebanese authorities yesterday to “open the sea” to boats carrying refugees.
During his televised speech, Nasrallah called for a “national decision” to be taken and for the sea to be “opened” to “anyone who wants to leave for Europe, for Cyprus,” the European Union country closest to the Middle East.
He hastened to add that he was not proposing that Syrians be “forced” to “board boats” and “leave.”
Lebanon, mired in an unprecedented economic crisis since 2019, a country hosting nearly two million Syrian refugees – the highest per capita ratio in the world — has not stopped calling on the international community to ensure their return.
Some of Lebanon’s political elite blame Syrian refugees for worsening the situation in the country, and pressure is mounting as the annual Syria conference in Brussels approaches.
Earlier this month, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced in Beirut the granting of one billion euros in aid, primarily aimed at preventing irregular migration.
The announcement was criticized by many in Lebanon, as they believe its real purpose is to keep Syrian refugees in the country.
Currently, Syrian refugees are “forbidden” from leaving, so they “turn to smugglers and inflatable boats, and we have drownings at sea because the Lebanese army is implementing a policy decision to prevent them from migrating,” the leader of Hezbollah stated.
Nasrallah also demanded that the Lebanese parliament pressure the European Union and the United States to lift sanctions on Damascus, which, according to the Syrian government, hinder efforts to distribute humanitarian aid and begin the reconstruction process.
Lebanon is required to tell the West “‘ We all need to coordinate with the Syrian government to send expatriates back to Syria and offer them assistance there’,” he judged.
He made these statements on the eve of the resumption of “voluntary returns” of Syrian nationals from Lebanon to their homeland, a year and a half after they were halted.
Human rights advocates warn against the risk of arbitrary arrests and mistreatment of returning Syrians.
The extremely complex war in Syria, which erupted in 2011, sparked by the authorities’ repression of protests demanding the democratization of the country, has cost the lives of over half a million people and turned millions of others into internally displaced persons and refugees.
