'Presidential Envoy' Ibrahim to Coordinate with Damascus on Refugees

A “near-final” agreement has been reached among the various political parties on the “inevitability of dialogue with the Syrian side” on the issue of returning refugees to their country, a media report said on Thursday.

“There is an inclination to task General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim to politically coordinate with the Syrian government on the refugee file – not in his security capacity but rather in his capacity as a presidential envoy,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

“The government will maintain its dissociation policy and it would later agree to any solutions that the 'presidential envoy' would reach, knowing that he enjoys good ties with the various local and external parties that are concerned with the crisis,” the daily added.

Sources close to Hizbullah, the Free Patriotic Movement, AMAL Movement and their allies meanwhile told the newspaper that Prime Minister Saad Hariri “is yet to give his final approval to this exit, which could spare him embarrassment with Riyadh, which is rejecting any political communication with Damascus.”

During a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Hariri had called for avoiding debate on the issue of communicating with the Syrian regime seeing as it is “controversial.”

“The government wants the Syrian refugees to be returned home as soon as possible, but we consider that the United Nations' responsibility,” the PM added.

Several officials of Hariri's al-Mustaqbal Movement are strongly opposed to any communication with Damascus, especially State Minister for Refugee Affairs Moein al-Merehbi.

Political disagreements prevented Cabinet from taking any decision on the file during the session.

Several political parties, especially Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement, have called for coordinating the return of the displaced with the Syrian government.