Lebanese President Michel Aoun has denounced “suspicious” international efforts to keep Syrian refugees in Lebanon, stating that the Beirut government will power through with its plan to begin repatriating tens of thousands of Syrian nationals living in the country back to Syria.
Faraan: Aoun made the comments during a Thursday meeting with a Canadian delegation that included Minister of International Development Harjit Sajjan, according to a statement from the Lebanese presidency. “Some countries’ efforts to integrate the displaced Syrians who are in Lebanon into the Lebanese society are a crime that Lebanon will not accept, no matter the cost,” Aoun said.
“We are now suspicious of the positions taken by some countries and organizations,” the Lebanese president said, adding that “if the goal is to settle the displaced Syrians in Lebanon, we reject that outright, just as we previously refused to settle the Palestinians on our land.” The Syrian foreign minister says Western countries impede the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland.
The Canadian minister indicated that his country supported the return of the displaced Syrians to their home country.
Last month, the head of Lebanon’s General Security agency lambasted the international community over forgetting about Syrian refugees, arguing there is no firm intention to repatriate the displaced population to their homeland. Major General Abbas Ibrahim said on July 14 that the Lebanese government, having received guarantees from Syrian authorities, drafted a plan that would entail sending back 15,000 Syrian refugees every month, but it was rejected due to the lack of international will for the repatriation of thousands of Syrian refugees in near future.
