Secretary-General of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC), Haytham Rahmeh, warned the Lebanese government against deporting Syrian refugees to areas under the control of the murderous Assad regime as the lives of tens of thousands will be at serious risk of arrest, forcible disappearance and execution. He stressed that the forced return constitutes a violation of international norms and convention on the protection of refugees and the provision of a safe environment for them.
Rahmeh denounced the silence of the United Nations and international and human rights organizations about the move despite the repeated warnings of the dangers of the Lebanese government’s plan to deport Syrian refugees.
“The Caesar’s photos, Al-Tadamon Massacre scenes, and thousands of other pieces of evidence have already shown the way the Assad regime treats the Syrian people. The deportees are at serious risk of meeting a similar fate as the Assad regime views who left Syria as wrongdoers who deserve arrest, which has already happened with thousands of Syrians,” Rahmeh said.
He made it clear that the claim that the regime’s areas are safe is nothing but falsehood, deception, and a pretext by some countries that failed to secure a safe environment for refugees or assume their responsibility towards them.
Rahmeh called for an immediate halt to the deportations and the provision of a safe environment for Syrian refugees under international auspices. He also called for the establishment of suitable accommodation centers for Syrian refugees in Lebanon to spare them government pressure, or receiving them in safe countries pending a comprehensive political transition in Syria in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions. (Source: SOC’s media department)
