Lebanon said on Saturday that Syrian refugees registered with the UN should not to return home as of yesterday, warning they will lose their refugee status in this tiny Arab country.
The announcement comes ahead of Syria’s presidential elections tomorrow, a vote Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is widely expected to win to secure a third seven-year term.
Damascus sees the elections as a means to end the three-year-old conflict, while the Syrian opposition and its Western allies have denounced the vote as a farce aimed solely at lending al-Assad a veneer of electoral legitimacy.
Activists say more than 160,000 people have been killed since the Syrian conflict started in March 2011 as largely peaceful protests against al-Assad’s rule that deteriorated into civil war.
The fighting has uprooted 9 million people from their homes, with more than 6 million Syrians seeking shelter in safer parts of the country and at least 2.7 million fleeing to neighboring countries.
More than 1 million of them are in Lebanon, leaving the much smaller nation of 4.5 million struggling to cope with the massive influx as many refugees desperately need housing, education and medical care.
“In the framework of organizing the entrance and exit of Syrian citizens to Lebanon, all Syrians registered by the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, should abstain from entering Syria as of [yesterday], otherwise they will lose their status as refugees in Lebanon,” the Lebanese Ministry of the Interior said in a statement carried by the state-run National News Agency.
“This measure is based on the concern about security in Lebanon and the relation between Syrian refugees and Lebanese citizens in areas hosting them and to prevent any friction or provocation,” it said.
The ministry’s statement came after last week’s two-day vote by tens of thousands of Syrians at their embassy near Beirut. Many of them raised posters of al-Assad and chanted pro-government slogans.
Lebanon’s anti-al-Assad on March 14 coalition said those who took part in the vote are not refugees and called on the Lebanese government to “work on deporting them to their country.”
Lebanese Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk is a member of the Future Movement — which is also part of the March 14 coalition.
Several polling stations will be set up on the Syrian side of three Lebanese border crossing points tomorrow.
The ministry’s decision appeared aimed at preventing refugees from heading there to vote. Lebanon has seen violence from the Syrian conflict spill into its streets.
Lama Fakih, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, called on the Lebanese government and “all neighboring states to maintain an open border policy for individuals fleeing the conflict.”
“It’s their responsibility under international refugee law ... to assess whether or not someone is actually fleeing persecution in Syria,” Fakih said.
The Lebanese decision came hours after rebels blew up a tunnel packed with explosives in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, killing at least 20 pro-government fighters, activists and rebels said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group said the blast took place near the Zahrawi market not far from the citadel in Old Aleppo.
A powerful rebel alliance called the Islamic Front claimed responsibility for the blast.
It said in a tweet that it killed at least 40 government gunmen.
Early last month, rebels also used bomb-packed tunnels to level a historic hotel in the Old City of Aleppo that was being used as an army base.
Such explosions have provided a reminder that the rebels, despite setbacks in other parts of the country, remain a potent force.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese