The political and institutional campaign against Syrian refugees living "illegally" in Lebanon is intensifying, amidst years of the worst financial crisis in the country's history.
Lebanon has been hosting over a million Syrians who fled the ongoing war in neighboring Syria for over a decade.
Last week, the Lebanese government news agency NNA reported that state security agents conducted a series of raids in areas of the Batroun district in the north of the country, instructing Syrians found without "proper documentation" to leave their homes and the area "within 48 hours."
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It's unclear where the Syrian families who are required to leave the areas of Kubbe, Bustan al Assi, and Kfifan will go. Nor has it been explained why state security raids occurred only in the Batroun district and not in other Lebanese regions. Some think that the regions targeted may be because Hezbollah factions are present there. Hezbollah's military arm is listed by the EU as a terrorist organization.
Directive issued
These initiatives follow a directive issued in recent days by the governor of North Lebanon, Ramzi Nohra, who implemented instructions from the Interior Minister, Bassam Mawlawi, who in previous days had joined the chorus of political and institutional figures in the country loudly calling for the deportation of Syrian refugees to Syria.
Lebanon has a population of about five million people. According to Lebanese government sources, around one and a half million Syrians live in the country.
Although many of them have fled war in neighboring Syria, they are not all recognized as refugees by Lebanon. In recent weeks, reported episodes of indiscriminate violence against Syrians by neighborhood patrols have increased in various areas of the country.
These incidents occurred amid a media campaign fueled by political figures blaming "the Syrians" for a series of distinct criminal incidents that occurred in the capital Beirut and the area Mount Lebanon.
With the approaching end of May's annual Syria conference organized by the European Union in Brussels, Lebanese authorities hope to secure increased EU funding for the management of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.