Mawlawi says there are 1.2 million unregistered Syrians in Lebanon

Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi on Monday announced that there are 1.2 million unregistered Syrians in Lebanon.

“Out of two million displaced Syrians, there are only 300,000 who have residency permits while 800,000 are registered and 1.2 million are unregistered,” Mawlawi said, during a consultative ministerial meeting at the Grand Serail.

Mawlawi said Tuesday that the recent slaying of Lebanese Forces official Pascal Sleiman by what authorities say was a gang of Syrian nationals signals the need to restrict the number of refugees entering the country from neighboring Syria.

The tiny Mediterranean country of over 6 million people, including refugees, hosts what the U.N. refugee agency says are nearly 785,000 U.N.-registered Syrian refugees, of which 90% rely on aid to survive. Lebanese officials estimate the actual number could be as high as 1.5 or 2 million.