The crisis of displacement is taking a “serious” nature, and fears arise that calls to coordinate efforts between Lebanon and Syria to help displaced Syrians return back to safe zones in their country might be exploited by some sides to restore relations between the Lebanese state and Syrian regime, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Monday.
“While the Lebanese look at the return of displaced Syrians from a Lebanese-Arab-International frame to their return to safe zones in Syria under well humanitarian and social conditions, some in Lebanon try to take this issue to another sphere that suggests ‘floating’ relations between the Lebanese State and Syrian regime,” political sources told the daily.
However, “if there is a Lebanese consensus on the need to coordinate with the Syrian state to return displaced Syrians to their country, there has not yet been any official Syrian position that indicates the intention of the Syrian state to restore the displaced,” they added on condition of anonymity.
“While the Lebanese are not opposed to dialogue with the Syrian regime with a specific aim of returning displaced Syrians, they fear that new Syrian-Lebanese dialogue will lead to negotiations on the ties between the two countries without eventually leading to the return of displaced,” the sources said.
Therefore, “official sources say it is better for the United Nations to test the willingness of the Syrian regime to open its border strictly for the displaced, and to limit Lebanon’s policy of openness to the issue of refugees, as long as the role of the Arab League is disabled in Syria,” they added.
However, the sources revealed that “contacts of the Lebanese government with the UN have revealed the organization’s reluctance because of its lack of confidence in the temporary solution based on safe areas in the war torn country.””
Lebanon is home to over 1 million registered Syrian refugees, who reside largely in settlements in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, near the border.
Last week, Lebanese authorities rounded up nearly 400 Syrian refugees following an attack on military troops conducting raids in refugee camps in Arsal, town near the border with Syria.
The attack in Lebanon’s northeast left a young girl dead and seven Lebanese soldiers wounded.
The authorities said the raids followed a tip that a terrorist attack was planned out of the camps.
