Derbas Says 8,000 Iraqi Refugees in Lebanon

Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas estimated that 8,000 Iraqi refugees fleeing the expansion of the Islamic State in their country have arrived in Lebanon.

“So far 1,000 Iraqi refugees registered with the U.N. refugee agency” UNHCR, Derbas said in comments published in al-Joumhouria newspaper.

However, he expressed belief that the number exceeds the one mentioned, pointing out that there are already 7,000 Iraqi refugees in the country.

The minister said he will address means to aid the displaced Iraqis with the Chaldean Patriarch.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil said recently that Lebanon rejects to welcome Iraqi refugees, asking them to remain in their land.

But we welcome Iraqi tourists in Lebanon, he said during a press conference with Iraqi counterpart Hussein al-Shahristani in Baghdad.

Islamic State (IS) jihadists launched in early June a major offensive in northern Iraq, sweeping Iraqi security forces aside.

The militants have declared a "caliphate" straddling vast areas of Iraq and Syria.

Human rights groups and residents say IS fighters have been demanding that religious minorities in the Mosul region either convert or leave, unleashing violent reprisals on any who refuse.

Members of minority groups including the Yazidis, Christians, Shabak and Turkmen, remain under threat of kidnapping or death at the hands of the jihadists.

Lebanon currently hosts 1.1 million refugees, the highest number at 38 percent of Syrian refugees fleeing the war-torn country for other countries in the region.

H.K.

G.K.