Lebanon Prioritizes Unity after Refugee Assistance Warning

Prime Minister Tammam Salam is likely to hear during his visit to Brussels next week warnings from several European countries on the drop in assistance to Lebanon over the government’s decision not to accept more Syrian refugees.

An Nahar daily said Tuesday that Salam's talks with European Union officials during his visit to Brussels on Dec. 1 will focus on the refugee crisis.

Several European cabinet ministers have already expressed reservations on the decision taken by Salam's cabinet last month to encourage the displaced Syrians to return to their country or go to other nations.

The government has said it would accept refugees in “exceptional” cases.

Lebanon hosts around 1.5 million Syrian refugees. But their number began dropping after the cabinet's policy was announced.

There are over 3 million Syrian refugees from the war, mostly in neighboring countries. Another 6 million have been displaced within Syria, making it one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

European countries and the U.S. have been extremely reluctant to accept Syrian refugees, leaving the burden to countries neighboring Syria — Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq, which are ill-equipped to deal with the floods of people.

An Nahar said the European officials who have expressed the reservations towards the government's policy have hinted that assistance to Lebanon would drop as a result of that.

But the government was clear in responding to their warning, saying the country's interest was the highest priority.

The government prefers to preserve Lebanon's unity rather than getting assistance, it said.

Following his visit to Brussels, Salam is scheduled to travel to Paris on Dec. 10 to meet with French President Francois Hollande and PM Manuel Valls.

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