Israel Matzav

#Caring: Lebanon slams the door on fleeing Syrians

Lebanon has all but closed its borders to refugees fleeing Syria’s civil war, overwhelmed by an influx of more than 1 million people displaced by fighting, U.N. and Lebanese officials said Saturday.

Quoted by Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar newspaper, Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas said Lebanon “no longer officially receives any displaced Syrians.”

He said exceptions were available for refugees for “humanitarian reasons” to be judged by Lebanon’s social affairs and interior ministries.

“We informed [the U.N. refugee agency] UNHCR that we are no longer able to receive displaced people,” he added.

Ninette Kelley, UNHCR’s representative in Lebanon, confirmed increased restrictions at the border with Syria.

“Our understanding is that people who are coming to claim refugee status are not being permitted to enter in the way that they were previously,” she told AFP.

“What we’ve seen over the last two to three weeks is that there are greater restrictions ... We’ve seen that there are fewer people approaching us for registration which is also indicative of tightening of the border.”

Kelley said there were no precise figures on the number of refugees allowed to enter.

Labels: Lebanon, Syria, Syrian refugees

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:47 AM