Beirut, May 19, 2023 (Xinhua) – Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati today (Friday) called on Arab countries to help Lebanon secure the safe return of Syrian refugees to their homeland.
This came according to a statement issued by Mikati’s office in a speech he delivered during the Arab League summit in Jeddah.
He said, “The return of refugees cannot be achieved if Arab efforts are not combined with the support of the international community, and through communication and dialogue with Syria within the framework of a comprehensive and stimulating Arab position through construction and rehabilitation projects for demolished areas to draw up a road map for the return of the Syrian brothers to their homes.”
He pointed out that “Lebanon has never hesitated to open its doors to our displaced Syrian brothers out of faith in the brotherhood of the two peoples and the advancement of humanitarian considerations over everything else.”
He added, “The long duration of the crisis, the failure to address it, and the very large increase in the number of displaced people, make the displacement crisis greater than Lebanon’s ability to bear, in terms of its infrastructure, social influences and political repercussions at home, and in terms of the natural right of those displaced to return to their cities and villages.”
In June 2022, Mikati called on the international community to “cooperate with Lebanon to return the displaced Syrians to their country, otherwise Lebanon will have a position that is not desirable for Western countries, which is to work to remove the Syrians from Lebanon by legal means through the strict application of Lebanese laws.”
The number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese General Security Directorate, is about two million and 80 thousand refugees.
Mikati praised the convening of the summit, describing it as “a wound-healing summit, as it was preceded by an agreement to restore relations to normal between Saudi Arabia and Iran, as well as the return of sister Syria to play its full role in the League of Arab States.”
He pointed out that “Lebanon continues to suffer from multiple crises that have weighed heavily on the Lebanese people, who are living through lean years in which they suffer daily from the loss of the basic moral and material ingredients that enable them to stand firm.”
Mikati expressed his aspiration “for Saudi Arabia’s sponsorship and its fraternal gesture towards my country, Lebanon, so that it can rise again.”
Since 2019, Lebanon has been witnessing a severe financial and economic crisis, which the World Bank ranked among the worst in the world since the middle of the last century.
Economists believe that ending the presidential vacancy that has been going on for about 7 months by electing a president for the country and forming a government capable of implementing administrative and financial structural reforms would put Lebanon on the road to recovery with the support of the International Monetary Fund and donor countries.
2023-05-20 01:47:24
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