Alwaght- While the Syrian government these days prioritizes the refugees case to return millions home after years, Western countries are once again putting the skids under its efforts. In this regard, the European Parliament passed a resolution last Wednesday stipulating that the return of Syrian refugees from Lebanon must be “voluntary, dignified, safe, and according to international criteria.” This resolution, which many believe aims to pressure Beirut to keep the refugees in Lebanon, has infuriated the Lebanese.
In reaction, Lebanon's parliament said that it was against the Lebanese constitution, international law, and the right of the refugees to return home. Issam Charafeddine, the minister of refugees in the caretaker government, described the EU resolution an “interference” in the home affairs of independent countries and called on the European Parliament to apologize.
“The European Parliament has forgotten that Lebanon is not a European province or country. I wish they would also pay attention to Israel's aggression and actions against Lebanon,” said Qassem Hashem, a member of Development and Liberation Coalition in the parliament.
Gibran Bassil, former foreign minister and the head of the Christian Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), has strongly reacted to the move.
“What right does entitle Europeans to decide on keeping the Syrian refugees in Lebanon? Making decisions on this case is a job of the Lebanese and it is a sovereignty case. Why do the European countries impose on Lebanon something they do not accept? The European immigrant cap does not go beyond 30,000, while Lebanon hosts 2 million refugees. Does Europe dare to talk to Turkey with this tone?,” he was quoted as saying.
Also, the head of Hezbollah's Executive Council emphasized that what the Europeans have done with the issue of Syrian refugees in Lebanon is a brazen and heinous act. He added that they intervened in the affairs of Lebanon and imposed some of their issues on the Lebanese.
“Together with Americans and takfiris, they brought this disaster to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and the region, and we must tell them to go and mind your own business,” he asserted.
Despite the massive opposition to the European resolution, the only force in Lebanon that approved of the idea is the pro-Western Lebanese Forces, led by former militia commander Samir Geagea. Stay of refugees helps this party fish in troubled waters and put strains on its foe Hezbollah.
Beirut-Damascus agreement for refugees return
The European Parliament’s motion comes while the Syrian and Lebanese authorities have held numerous meetings and made various agreements over the past year in order to facilitate and accelerate the return of Syrian refugees.
In one of the most important consultations, Lebanese minister of migration and refugees affairs in September last year in a meeting with the Syrian authorities discussed the process of returning refugees and announced that Beirut has drawn up an acceptable plan to return 15,000 Syrian refugees on a voluntary basis. The Syrian government announced its readiness to accept 200,000 refugees.
Two weeks ago, the Lebanese ministry said that the new phase of the return will begin soon and both sides were ready to launch the process by adopting new methods, which may include 180,000 Syrians in the first phase. Also, former president of Lebanon Michel Aoun, during his trip to Damascus last month, met and talked with the senior officials there for arrangements for the refugees return after 12 year.
Lebanon started first stage of the plan in 2019, and a new stage was laid for 2022, but international obstructions have blocked its conclusion.
In addition to the US and the EU, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and its representation office in Lebanon have repeatedly stated that they are against the return of Syrian refugees. This commission as well as other organizations affiliated with the UN have also issued statements warning that Syria is not safe for refugees to return, a move apparently aimed at encouraging Syrians to stay in Lebanon.
The UN and the West are trying to block the return of refugees by making empty promises of financial support in exchange for them staying in host countries. But the experience of the last decade showed that the Westerners and the UN do not provide any help they promise to the refugees, and the unfortunate situation of millions of Syrian refugees in other countries is a showcase of this reality.
Lebanon has been struggling with a grave economic crisis since 2019 and cannot afford hosting the refugees anymore. According to the UN data, some 850,000 Syrian refugees are residing in Lebanon. Lebanese government, however, puts this figure at 1.5 million. Return of such a large number of refugees in such difficult economic conditions can provide a breathing space to bankrupt Lebanese government. But the Westerners not only provide no financial assistance to the government to provide services to the refugees, but also intend to foist the costs on the people of Lebanon.
Though the Syrian refugees escaped the war and bloodshed in the initial years of the conflict, many of them have been living in pathetic conditions abroad.
In 2014, the UN in a report noted that arrival of a large number of refugees in Lebanon put a lot of pressure on the economic and social conditions of this country, and public service institutions in Lebanon were unable to cope with the sharp increase in demand.
In food provision to the refugees, Lebanon ran into troubles as its farming sector is weak. The refugees’ conditions in Lebanon day by day grew more and more severe. According to a UNICEF research published in summer 2021, in total, 77 percent of the Lebanese families have no adequate food or money to buy food. This figure is 99 percent among the Syrian refugees. According to Charafeddine, about 90 percent of Syrian refugees in Lebanon are below the poverty line.
The other side of EU's humanitarian gesture
Having fueled the war in Syria with supporting terrorist groups and displacing millions along with the US, the EU now continues its game of deception. The recent resolution is an attack on Lebanon's sovereignty, interference in its home affairs, and is dealing a blow to its security and stability.
The Europeans, reneging on their responsibilities to the refugees, are now trying to hinder the return of Syrian refugees home. This comes while both the refugees and the Syrian and Lebanese governments want the return process to go ahead. But by this resolution, the European Parliament wants to decide for the future of hundreds of thousands of refugees.
By a campaign of fake news that the Syrian government will sue and arrest the refugees if they return, Europe is seeking to block the return. These destructive European efforts come while the Syrian government has provided many facilitations and issued public amnesty in a bid to ensure the refugees that they will not be prosecuted at home. The government also commits to proving proper housing to the returning refugees.
The European action comes as the government in Syria over the past years has provided relative security in the country and facilitated the return, but the UN, under the Western duress, obstructs the process. The West beats the drum for the Syrian refugees while these very refugees a decade ago were displaced from their home country as a result of the evil American and European plots, and thousands of them lost their lives in the seas and in the cold.
Like the US, Europe believes that if the refugees return to their home country, it will be recognized in the public opinion that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad managed to restore security to the country by defeating the foreign-backed terrorists, and restoration of Syrian image and prestige internationally will be costly for the Western governments that bent over the backwards to oust al-Assad.
Though Arab countries resumed ties with Damascus after 12 years and contributed to a serious jump in the Syrian government's legitimacy, the Europeans struggle to de-legitimize it.
The West is pushing for stay of Syrian refugees in Lebanon to instrumentalize them against central Syrian government and wrest political concessions from Damascus. But setting up roadblocks ahead of the refugees return not only provides no solution to the case, but also maintains millions of Syrians, already having fallen victim to the Western ambitions, in dire economic straits. After all, the host countries can no longer afford providing services to the refugees. Furthermore, the new EU decision will trigger a new wave of immigration to the European borders and a new crisis to the West will emerge.
