Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil has written to his Syrian counterpart and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to express Lebanon’s concerns about the possible negative impact of Syrian law.
According to state-run National News Agency, Bassil wrote to the Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Moualem, saying “Lebanon is concerned that conditions to implement the law will hinder the return of the displaced to their homes.”
Furthermore, Minster Bassil said that while the law may encourage displaced Syrians to return home, the short deadline may cause problems.
In his letter to Gutteres, Bassil called on the U.N. to take the “necessary measures to protect the rights of the displaced Syrians, and preserve their property, while informing all Syrians living in Lebanon of this law.”
“The inability for the displaced to prove their ownership within the given period may cause them to lose their property and sense of loss of national identity, which deprives them of one of the main incentives for their return to Syria.”
He noted the difficulty faced by the Lebanese government to transmit information to Syrians living in Lebanon, due to the “policy adopted by the U.N organizations working in the areas with Syrians.”
Minister Bassil stated that the Lebanese government will adopt a policy accompanied by practical measures to help those want to return to Syria.
Law 10, issued last month and aimed at setting up a general organizational plan in the areas destroyed by the Syrian war, calls on Syrians to register their private properties within 30 days, or the state would seize it. The owners have to provide documents proving the ownership within the deadline.
