Lebanese Officials Warn of Huge Pro-Assad Refugee Influx
Lebanese officials have warned of a huge Syrian refugee influx to Lebanon if the so-called Damascus battle erupts, An Nahar daily reported on Friday.
The ministerial sources told the newspaper that if such an influx takes place, the displaced Syrians will include supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad from different sects.
If the rebels launch an attack on Damascus and Assad's regime falls, then thousands of people could escape the Syrian capital and head to Lebanon.
The flow of Syrian refugees into Lebanon dropped sharply earlier this year due to restrictions imposed by Lebanese authorities.
Although Lebanese border officials began informally restricting the entry of Syrians last October, Beirut officially imposed visa regulations in January on their neighbors. The move was the first such in decades.
An estimated 4 million people have fled Syria, with more than half of the country's population displaced.
Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas said last week that the number of refugees registered with the U.N. refugee agency, the UNHCR, has reached approximately 1.2 million.
More Syrians have entered the country illegally and are not registered.
An Nahar said that Derbas is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Tammam Salam next Monday to brief him on the result of the consultations he has held with Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi and the Foreign Ministers of Egypt and Tunisia.
Derbas had asked the officials for Arab countries to share the burden of the Syrian refugees, said the daily.
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