Lebanon has deported dozens of Syrians back to the war-torn country they fled from, security officials and a humanitarian source said Friday, as anti-Syrian sentiment grows amid a dire economic crisis.
One of the Syrians deported was an army defector, a relative said, warning that “his life is in danger”.
“The army has deported more than 50 Syrians from Lebanon in the past two weeks,” an army official told AFP. Speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the press.
dozens of Syrians had been expelled. Another security official said
They said Lebanon’s army intelligence unit had been cracking down on undocumented Syrians. Arresting them and handing them to border guards, who then expelled them from Lebanon.
Hundreds of thousands of Syrians fled to neighbouring Lebanon after the country’s civil war began in 2011 with the brutal suppression of anti-regime protests.
Authorities say Lebanon hosts around two million Syrian refugees. While nearly 830,000 are registered with the United Nations.
Lebanese authorities have long pushed for Syrian refugees to return. And have made several repatriation efforts they describe as voluntary. But which rights groups say are forced.
Rights groups say some refugees have faced persecution, and reject the idea that refugee returns to Syria are safe.
“The army’s detention centres are full,” and other security agencies have refused to take in the arrested refugees, the army official said, commenting on the move.
“So the army had to take this measure and place them outside Lebanese borders,” he added.
The security and army officials said that Lebanese authorities did not coordinate the effort with Damascus, adding that some of the expelled refugees had returned to Lebanon with the help of smugglers who charged them $100 per person