Nazir Hakim, a member of the political committee of the Syrian Opposition Coalition, said that the Hezbollah militia and Iran are behind the recent racist campaign against Syrian refugees in Lebanon. He made this statement in response to the recent launch of “The National Campaign for the Liberation of Lebanon from the Syrian Demographic Occupation,” which claims that Syrian refugees pose a threat to Lebanon’s demographic structure.
Hakim questioned the rationale behind this campaign, asking how Syrian refugees could be responsible for any demographic changes when the Assad regime, along with Hezbollah, had occupied Lebanon militarily, politically, and economically for decades. He further pointed out that there were no similar campaigns against the Assad regime’s occupation of Lebanon and the subsequent division of the country into sects, which weakened Lebanon and allowed Hezbollah to gain control.
Hakim stressed that the campaign’s purpose is to divert attention from the demographic change that Iran is seeking to achieve in Syria.
Hakim called on Lebanese politicians, clerics, and honorable men to expose the campaign’s goals and stand by the Syrian refugees in Lebanon. He warned against forcibly returning them to regime-held areas, where they would be at serious risk of arrest and execution. He cited several cases of returnees being handed over to the regime’s notorious Fourth Division, which committed violations against them.
Lastly, Hakim called on humanitarian organizations and commissions to assume their responsibilities towards Syrian refugees in Lebanon and protect them according to the laws and resolutions of the United Nations and the International Refugee Rights Association. (Source: SOC’s Media Department)
