Lebanon Fears Enraging West over Deportation of Syrian Refugees
Lebanese authorities are hesitant in handing over Syrian refugees to Damascus, fearing that such a move would lead to an increased international pressure on Lebanon, ministerial sources said Saturday.
The sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat that Syrian authorities have asked Beirut to hand over several refugees that had escaped the fighting in their country to northern Lebanon.
“Lebanese officials discussed the issue and realized that meeting (the Syrian request) would lead in turn to an international pressure on Lebanon,” including possible sanctions, the sources said.
Several countries and mainly the U.S. are pressuring Lebanon into providing the humanitarian needs of all Syrian refugees, including dissenters and deserters.
Syrian authorities had previously pressured Lebanon into handing over seven displaced Syrians who were arrested in al-Qaa border village in the Bekaa valley for suspicion of belonging to the rebel Free Syria Army.
But the men were later released by the Lebanese judiciary after it turned out that they were not armed and the weapons seized from them belonged to the Lebanese owner of the house who was giving them refuge.
The Syrian judiciary has expressed its frustration over the decision to set them free, the ministerial sources told al-Hayat.
Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi said in remarks published in An Nahar in response to a question on whether Syria had made requests that he “hasn’t heard of any (Syrian) being handed over.”
“The issue is linked to the judicial agencies of the two countries through (coordination between) the embassies,” he said, stressing that it is not within his authorities but he would have heard about it if any such step was made.
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