President Joseph Aoun has underlined Lebanon’s urgent need for a solution to the Syrian refugee crisis, stressing that the country can no longer bear the economic and social burdens associated with hosting displaced Syrians.
“The main goal should be the return of these refugees to their country, not their continued stay in Lebanon,” President Aoun said during a meeting on Thursday with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi.
Aoun said Lebanon wants the refugees’ return “as soon as possible,” arguing that the circumstances leading to their displacement no longer exist, following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. He called on the UNHCR to begin organizing return convoys, similarly to other host countries who have already started repatriating displaced Syrians.
“We are ready to cooperate with you in all ways,” the president told Grandi, highlighting the importance of addressing border infiltration issues between Lebanon and Syria.
For his part, Grandi, accompanied by Shahrzad Tadjbakhsh, Director of the High Commissioner’s Office in Geneva, indicated that approximately 200,000 displaced Syrians have already returned to their country from Lebanon, Jordan, and other host nations since the regime change on December 8. He also revealed that a recent UNHCR survey shows a significant rise in the number of displaced individuals willing to return to Syria, jumping from 1% to 30%.
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