Michel Aoun calls for the return of Syrian refugees in Lebanon to their country

Lebanese President Michel Aoun called on the international community and the United Nations to work to return the Syrian refugees in Lebanon to their villages, especially those that he described as “now safe”.

The Lebanese President said, during a meeting with the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Program, Maimouna Muhammad Sharif, that it is “impossible to continue to receive this huge number of displaced Syrians.”

Aoun added: “The international community, on one hand, and the United Nations, on the other, should work to return them to their villages in Syria, especially those that have become safe.”

He pointed out that the aid received by Lebanon is not sufficient in view of the damage it sustained, both after the explosion in the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020, the spread of the Corona pandemic, and the issue of Syrian displacement, which doubled during the years of war.

He explained that the number of Syrian refugees in his country reached one million and 800 thousand, and the cost incurred by Lebanon exceeded 45 billion dollars (as a result of bearing the consequences of their asylum), in addition to the negative repercussions on the Lebanese economy after the closure of the Lebanese-Syrian borders (due to Corona) and the inability to export Lebanese products,
As he claimed.

For a year and a half, the Lebanese have been experiencing an unprecedented severe economic crisis that has led to a record collapse in the value of the local currency against the dollar, as well as a shortage of fuel and medicine, and the collapse of their purchasing power.