Ministerial delegation to visit Syria over refugee repatriation
Minister of Social Affairs Hector Hajjar and Minister of the Displaced Issam Sharafeddine will soon visit Damascus to meet with their Syrian counterparts over the repatriation of the Syrian refugees, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported Monday.
It added that Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, who had said he would not head the ministerial delegation to Syria, has called his Syrian counterpart, Faisal al-Miqdad, and agreed with him to meet soon.
Sharafeddine blamed Bou Habib for wasting more than a month before announcing that he would not be able to head the Lebanese delegation.
In remarks published Monday in Asharq al-Awsat, Sharafeddine said Bou Habib is responsible for the long delay in setting a date for the visit.
17 July 2023, 16:29
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Lebanon could have rightfully gotten billions for taking care of Syrian refugees and teaching them democracy and civility so they can make a positive change once back in Syria. Turkey got tens of billions from Europe as these refugees would have cost significantly more in Europe, with average cost of $3,000 per month or $100 a day. Lebanon rightly deserves at least $25 per day for every Syrian temporary refugee in Lebanon. This is over $10 billion per year and every new day adds to the earmark. Lebanon should request UN & Arab league to have these funds earmarked from any donor conference to help Syria rebuild. This will insure Assad would want them back as soon as possible. FPM has instead used refugees as a cash cow to divert millions to its cronies. In addition, why not use them in large infrastructure projects or learn from US and UAE and offer citizenship to 1,000 students with highest score whether Syrian, Palestinian or any refugee or kids of Asian and African foreign workers.
