Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Sunday expressed his dissatisfaction about some Lebanese parties’ aiding of the Assad regime in its war against the Syrian people, hinting to the Hezbollah militia.
“It is true that there are political parties intervening in Syria, but we are against this intervention and we won’t stop our economy for their sake,” Hariri said in a talk session on the sidelines of the World Government Summit in Dubai. The Hezbollah militia is the only Lebanese fighting alongside the Assad regime forces to crush the Syrian revolution.
Regarding to the Syrian refugees in Lebanon and the pressure some Lebanese parties are exerting on them, the Lebanese premier said: “If we blame all our problems on the refugee, then we will be deceiving ourselves.”
Hariri stressed that Syrian refugees will eventually return to their country and that Lebanon must benefit from their presence instead of complaining, citing the construction boom that Lebanon witnessed in 1996 and 1997.
Hariri denounced the insistence of some Lebanese parties on the normalization of ties with the Assad regime.
On August 1, Hariri criticized the Assad regime’s enactment of Law No. 10, noting that the law was aimed at discouraging Syrian refugees from returning to their homes.
President of the Syrian Coalition Abdurrahman Mustafa earlier said that the plight of the Syrian refugees in Lebanon “is getting worse,” as he stressed that “influential parties in the new Lebanese government is exerting pressure on them to force them to return.
Mustafa called on the United Nations and UNHCR to take urgent measures to ensure protection for the Syrian refugees and to prevent their forcible repatriation to Syria. He underscored that “the provision of guarantees for refugees’ return is impossible without a political solution in the country.” (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
