Coordinator of the Department of Refugee Affairs in the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC), Salim Idris, stressed that what the Syrian refugees are exposed to in Lebanon has exceeded human endurance, indicating that they are facing all kinds of intimidation and cutting off humanitarian aid to force them to return to the “slaughterhouses of the regime.”
Idris pointed out that the Syrian refugees had been forced to leave their country and go to Lebanon for fear of torture, arrest and killing by the forces of the Assad regime, the terrorist Hezbollah militia and other sectarian militias, in addition to the forces of Russia and Iran.
Idris’s statements came in response to reports of a meeting that took place between the Lebanese caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, in which Mikati called on the international community to cooperate to end what he described as “the crisis of the Syrian presence in his country.” Mikati claimed that the situation in Syria is stable, while Grandi expressed his respect for Lebanon’s decision to voluntarily return refugees to Syria, and confirmed that they are working with the Assad regime to remove obstacles.
Idris said that while Mikati calls on the international community to cooperate in ending the Syrian refugee crisis, he knows for sure that most of these refugees came from areas occupied by the Hezbollah sectarian, terrorist militia, which entered Syria in support of the criminal Bashar al-Assad. He added that this militia committed thousands of massacres in Syria, and considered that the responsibility for this rests not only with Hezbollah militia, leaders and fighters, but with the Lebanese authorities as well.
Idris pointed out that the Lebanese caretaker prime minister does not talk about these facts, but rather deliberately forgets them, and wants to use refugees a scapegoat for Lebanon’s economic, political, social and humanitarian failure.
Idris called on Mikati to end the refugee crisis in Lebanon by withdrawing the Hezbollah militia from Syria, and referring the elements and leaders who participated in the killing of Syrians to military courts.
Idris also called on the UNHCR to meet the needs of refugees, especially in the winter, not to cut aid to families, and to work with the Lebanese authorities to stop campaigns against the presence of refugees, and to stop discriminatory decisions issued against refugees that turned their lives into hell, and not to force anyone to return to the slaughterhouses of the regime.
Idris stressed that the conditions of the Syrian refugees in Lebanon are very dire, as the World Food Program has sent tens of thousands of families SMS messages informing them about stopping material aid starting from 2023, in light of the cold, poverty, hunger, disease, and bullying by the security services and army intelligence, which raid Syrian refugee camps and assaulting parents in front of their children.
Idris pointed out that there has been no positive development in Syria that gives a glimmer of hope or even the slightest reassurance for people to return to their country and get out of the hell of Lebanon. Human Rights Watch said last July that Syria is far from providing security and safety for the returnees.”
Idris stressed that ending the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon and other countries can only be achieved by supporting the negotiation track, which the Assad regime is evading with the support of Russia and Iran.
He emphasized that forcing the regime to commit to UN resolutions, foremost of which is Resolution 2254, forming a transitional governing body in which Bashar al-Assad has no role, ending repression by the security services and the army, referring the criminals to justice, and the withdrawal of the Russian and Iranian occupiers and sectarian militias, led by the terrorist Hezbollah militia, is the only way for refugees to return home.
(Source: SOC’s Media Department)
