Lebanese authorities continue to deport Syrian refugees

The municipality of Arsal in the Baalbek district in northeastern Lebanon has opened registration for Syrians in the region’s camps in order to deport them to their country, within the so-called “voluntary return” program, as there are many Syrian refugee camps in which human rights reports indicate that they face the most severe campaigns of racism, according to what Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

In this context, the Observatory confirmed that Syrian prisoners inside Roumieh prison in Lebanon objected to the Lebanese authorities handing over a Syrian prisoner to Damascus forces, and four of them threatened to hang themselves inside the prison instead of handing them over to the government if the Lebanese authorities continued this approach.

Since last October, the Lebanese authorities began resuming the return of Syrian refugees to their country after stopping for a period. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the return of dozens of them to Syria, where the deportations included women, men, and children from several Lebanese regions.

This comes amid the absence of any solutions for the Syrian crisis, and the failure of the Damascus government to show any response regarding the issue of Syrian refugees.

The campaigns of harassment and persecution against Syrian refugees in Lebanon have escalated recently, after an official threat by the Lebanese authorities to return them to their country without international coordination.

During the past year, the Democratic AANES expressed, in its roadmap to resolve the Syrian crisis, its readiness to receive all Syrian refugees who wish to return to Syria, specifically in Lebanon. During the past year, the Autonomous Administration received more than 50 refugee people who returned from Lebanon to Syria.

 Sh-S

ANHA