Suleiman Sets Ground for Lebanon Syria Refugee Aid Meet

President Michel Suleiman headed two meetings on Wednesday to set standards for the influx of Syrian refugees and prepare for a Sept. 25 meeting of an international support group for Lebanon at the United Nations General Assembly.

Discussions at the first meeting focused on measures that Lebanese authorities should take to organize the entry of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, said a statement issued by Baabda Palace.

The statement said that the entry should be based on international law and have humanitarian considerations.

The second meeting between Suleiman and the delegation that will accompany him to New York focused on the talks that will be held on the sidelines of next week's General Assembly to discuss ways of helping Lebanon cope with the refugee influx.

The discussions also dealt with a conference that is scheduled to be held by the U.N. refugee agency in Geneva on Sept. 30 to help countries neighboring Syria to confront the alarming rise of the number of refugees.

The UNHCR has registered more than 746,000 Syrians in Lebanon, though many others remain unregistered.

The Lebanese government puts the number of Syrians in the country at 1.3 million, though that figure includes Syrians who were already in the country when the conflict began 30 months ago.

The crisis in Syria has placed enormous strain on Lebanon, politically and economically.