Arabs must pressure west to allow refugee repatriation: Hezbollah
Hezbollah’s official in charge of the Syrian refugee file, Nawar al-Sahili, has called for more pressure from Arab nations on the western world to repatriate refugees displaced by war, particularly the millions of Syrians taking refuge in Lebanon.
“[Arab countries must help] by putting pressure on the west not to keep displaced in the host countries, especially in Lebanon, because of the suffering caused by the issue, whether socially, economically or in terms of infrastructure,” Sahili told Russian news outlet Sputnik on 19 May.
“Putting pressure on western countries and helping the Syrian state financially for the return of refugees [is essential],” he added.
The comments from the resistance official coincide with the 32nd Arab League summit in the Saudi city of Jeddah, which saw the official return of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to the bloc for the first time since 2010 — a year before the start of the US-sponsored war that has ravaged the nation.
One of the most important items set to be discussed at the summit is the issue of displaced Syrian refugees.
Sahili added that Syria and Lebanon must “unite positions” against the policies of western governments and NGOs to continue the unimpeded repatriation process.
Further commenting on the end of Damascus’ isolation, the Hezbollah official said that “the Arab League is the one that returned to Syria,” and not the other way around.
Lebanon currently suffers from a severe refugee crisis that has put significant pressure on the crisis-hit country, both economically and politically. There are around 2,080,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon or about 30 percent of the country’s population.
Lebanese Minister of Defense Maurice Sleem accused the international community on 26 April of pressuring Lebanon to keep displaced Syrians in the country and integrating them into Lebanese society by providing aid in hard currency.
This was echoed by Sahili, who said that “international governmental and non-governmental organizations, led by the UNHCR, impede the return of the displaced and give Syrians sums of money in Lebanon [to encourage them to stay].”
Several other Lebanese officials have made similar statements, accusing Washington of obstructing refugee repatriation to Syria due to its political stance on Damascus and a wish to keep Lebanon under political and economic pressure.
At the start of this year, Lebanese Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram claimed Lebanon has been told that it is “forbidden from returning the refugees to their country.”
According to an analysis by The Cradle, joint Syrian-Lebanese repatriation efforts “failed due to western pressures, unsubstantiated warnings from international organizations that refugees would be persecuted upon return to Syria, and the unwillingness of the displaced themselves to lose foreign food aid and financial assistance.”
Nonetheless, the Lebanese army began forcefully deporting Syrian refugees last month, sparking widespread concern and condemnation.
These forced deportations were reportedly not coordinated “with either the Lebanese or Syrian governments” and took place illegally.
No comments:
Post a Comment