EU's Blackmail of Lebanon on Syrian Refugees: A Failed Policy

The EU wants the 2.5 million Syrians in Lebanon - the vast majority of whom are not refugees but economic and political hacks for Bashar Assad - to stay permanently in Lebanon. Now Lebanon's population is 4 million. Do the math and you'll see that no country on earth, notably the European hypocrites, tolerates such a ratio of "migrant-to-native" people. 

If allowed to stay indefinitely, those Syrian illegals will alter the delicate demographics on which Lebanon has founded its very existence as a nation. They could become the cause of a savage ethnic war between Syrians and Lebanese, just as happened in 1975 between the Lebanese and the Palestinian refugees expelled by Israel. The Stalinist Baathist dictator Bashar Assad, and his father Hafez before him, tried to annex Lebanon by occupying it militarily for 30 years, but they failed. And now Bashar has replaced his soldiers with his illegal migrants, and Europe sees no problem with this. But the Lebanese do.

The Syrian illegals in Lebanon marched in demonstrations and voted for Assad in the last Syrian elections. They cross the border every day, smuggling goods, hard currency, terrorists, mercenaries, weapons and such to help Hezbollah continue wreaking havoc in the country. All crime (theft, murder, rape, stealing of infrastructure material, etc.) in Lebanon is attributed to the Syrians who have formed gangs with Lebanese criminals. Hezbollah loves this state of affairs because the chaos and the weakening of the central government serves its so-called freewheeling "resistance" on behalf of Iran against Israel. 

The Syrian migrants are in Lebanon claiming to be refugees solely to benefit from the millions of dollars the EU doles on them to keep them from sailing to Europe. Lebanon have been vociferous in warning the Europeans that this situation cannot go on: An internal Syrian-Lebanese war is about to explode which would send both Syrians and Lebanese crossing the Mediterranean on small vessels trying to reach Cyprus, Rhodos, Turkey and Italy. Like idiots, the Europeans came last week and tried to bribe corrupt Lebanese officials with 1 billion Euros to keep the Syrians inside Lebanon. But the bribe didn't take.

No one, not the Lebanese, not the Europeans want to negotiate with the Syrian dictator who refuses to take back his people if the western sanctions are not lifted off his regime. He is using the Syrian illegals as a pawn to force the West to ease sanctions off his regime.

Hezbollah's silverback Hassan Nasrallah, who is an ally of Assad, is suggesting that Lebanon should open its waterfront and encourage all Syrians wishing to leave for Europe to do so. Hezbollah controls all of Lebanon's borders and has encouraged the influx of illegal Syrians into Lebanon for the simple reason that the lawlessness allows Hezbollah to bring in its weapons and terrorists without any constraints. If it were honest, Hezbollah should shut down these illegal land border crossings instead of opening the maritime borders.

Cyprus has warned the EU that something needs to be done fast to stave off an even bigger problem. Initially, the EU did not pay attention, but now there are signs of a change. After resisting and insisting that the situtaion in Syria is not conducive to the return of the illegal migrants to their country, the Europeans are feeling the sting and have now changed their discourse. The Europeans should stop beating around the bush: "Voluntary" return will not work as long as the EU and the UNHCR pay the Syrians who claim refugee status in Lebanon; If they return to Syria, they will no longer be able to claim refugee status and will no longer benefit from the "salaries" the UN, EU and UNHCR pay them. What the Lebanese have been demanding is for the Western donors to help the Syrians INSIDE Syria, thus encouraging them to retrun home and begin rebuilding Syria and their lives.

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8 EU members say conditions in Syria should be reassessed to allow voluntary refugee returns

MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS

Updated Fri, May 17, 2024

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The governments of eight European Union member states said Friday the situation in Syria should be re-evaluated to allow for the voluntary return of Syrian refugees back to their homeland.

In a joint statement, officials from Austria, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Malta and Poland said they agree on a re-assessment that would lead to “more effective ways of handling” Syrian refugees trying to reach European Union countries.

The eight countries, which held talks during a summit meeting in the Cypriot capital, said the situation in Syria has “considerably evolved,” even though complete political stability hasn't been achieved.

Cyprus has in recent months seen an upsurge of Syrian refugees reaching the island nation primarily from Lebanon aboard rickety boats.

Earlier this month, the EU announced a 1 billion euro ($1.06 billion) aid package for Lebanon aimed at boosting border controls to halt the flow of asylum seekers and migrants to Cyprus and Italy.

The eight countries said the EU should further boost support for Lebanon to "mitigate the risk of even greater flows from Lebanon to the EU.”

“Decisions as to who has the right to cross a member state’s borders, should be taken by the government of the relevant member state and not by criminal networks engaged in migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings,” the joint statement said.

The call comes a day after 15 EU member countries publicly called for the bloc to boost partnerships with countries along migratory routes in hopes of heading off attempts to reach EU countries.

The countries said that while they “fully embrace” the need to support Syrian refugees in line with international law, they hoped their talks could open a wider debate within the 27-member bloc on the process of granting the migrants international protection.

“What European citizens want from us ... are solutions, practical, realistic solutions that can be implemented,” said Greek Migration Minister Dimitris Kairidis.

Cypriot Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said the United Nations' refugee agency has already “established lines of communication” with Syrian authorities regarding possible voluntary returns in line with international law.

The Cypriot minister said returns would initially be on a voluntary basis, but that could develop into forced returns at a later stage. Much more needs to be done for that to happen because the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad isn't recognized by the EU, he said.

In Lebanon, where anti-refugee sentiment has been surging recently, more than 300 Syrian refugees returned to Syria in a convoy earlier this week.

Lebanese officials have long urged the international community to either resettle the refugees in other countries or help them return to Syria.