Nawaf Salam Renews Calls on International Community to Share Burden of Refugees

Lebanon's ambassador to the United Nations Nawaf Salam reiterated on Saturday calls on the international community to share the burden created by the exodus of Syrian refugees into Lebanon.

The diplomat expected that the displacement of Syrians would be reduced if humanitarian aid was delivered into Syria.

However, he pointed out that such a move will not permanently resolve the refugees crisis in Lebanon.

A United Nations envoy is expected to arrive in Lebanon soon to address ways in which to deliver aid to civilians in Syria.

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim warned recently that Lebanon is heading towards a “disaster” over the alarming influx of Syrian refugees into its territories.

Caretaker Minister of Social Affairs Wael Abou Faour said from Geneva that Lebanon counted by Monday evening some 769,000 Syrians registered or in the process of registering as refugees, pointing out that on Monday morning the number had been 763,000.

Including all the unregistered Syrians, the actual number is around 1.3 million, he said, or about 30 percent of the Lebanese population.

Monday's Geneva conference will form three committees to resolve the Syrian refugee crisis – one that deals with finances, the other works on sending them to other countries and the third to find refuge to them inside Syria.