On the eve of the 8th Brussels Conference on “Supporting the future of Syria and the region,” Abdallah Bou Habib, the caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs, declared that there is “no trust in the UNHCR because they are trying to outsmart us,” despite the agency’s critical role in supporting refugees.
In an interview with MTV, Bou Habib also claimed that “the eight donor countries have acknowledged the need for safe zones for the return of displaced.”
“The Syrian regime has affirmed the right of the displaced to return, and the state is ready to regularize their status, especially regarding military service,” stated the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
However, trusting the Syrian regime, which has a well-documented history of human rights abuses and has failed to provide genuine safety guarantees, seems naive.
