BEIRUT, November 28, 2022 (Xinhua) – Lebanese Director of Public Security Major General Abbas Ibrahim warned today (Monday) against settling Syrian refugees in his country, saying that “this means” preparing a bomb that will explode later in Lebanon.
Major General Abbas Ibrahim confirmed, in a press statement, according to the official Lebanese National News Agency, “the continuation of the process of organizing trips to return the displaced Syrians to their country, and the return is voluntary and safe.”
The return convoys of displaced Syrians from Lebanon to Syria began in 2017 and stopped at the end of 2019 due to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Major General Abbas Ibrahim said, “We will not force any displaced person to return, and this is an official Lebanese decision, through which we seek to reduce the burden on Lebanon and enable the Syrians to return to their homeland.”
He added, “There are two million and 80,000 displaced Syrians currently in Lebanon, and there are approximately 540,000 Syrians who have voluntarily returned to their country since the Lebanese General Security began implementing their return plan in 2017, and 17 General Security centers were opened in all Lebanese regions in order to organize this return.” .
He pointed out that “the file of the displaced Syrians is a national, Arab and international file,” and returning them to their land is a national duty that we must perform as quickly as possible, so that they do not lose their land and their history is erased.
He pointed out that “the international community and relevant international organizations have so far rejected the return of the displaced to Syria, and set conditions after another in order to prevent this return, and this is a very dangerous matter because of its negative repercussions on Lebanon demographically, economically and security.”
And he believed, “The Arab indifference in dealing with the Syrian file and the international decision that rejects the return of the displaced to Syria, and the prolongation of the stay of Syrian families in Lebanon and their integration into the societies that host them, are all factors that will lead to their survival on the land of Lebanon as a fait accompli first, and the fear of their resettlement later.”
He added, “This means that we are witnessing the process of preparing a ‘bomb’ that will explode later in Lebanon, and no one will pay the price for its repercussions and fragments except the Lebanese and Syrian peoples.”
“We are facing a real spatial and social turmoil,” he said.
He declared, “Security in Lebanon is coherent, and the military and security agencies are making every effort to maintain the factor of stability, because without it, things will slip away and go to very dangerous paths.”
He said, “The economic deterioration is leading to an increase in popular demands for the provision of basic services, which have become almost missing, and the fear of societal chaos is a reality, and we are struggling with the impossible to prevent any mobile chaos from turning into a security chaos.”
He believed that “Lebanon stands on the brink of collapse, and current estimates place 4 out of 5 people in extreme poverty.”
“Fears about any security challenges are increasing,” he said, noting, “We are focusing our security efforts on following up and pursuing the sleeping terrorist cells, and preventing them from being awakened again by external orders, because in light of what is happening in the region, we must not be complacent.”
Since 2019, Lebanon has been suffering from a state of constant tensions amidst the worst political, economic, financial, health and living crises in its history, which led to a rise in the poverty rate to 82%, exacerbation of unemployment and inflation with the collapse of the local currency amid an unprecedented rise in prices, and banks imposing strict restrictions on withdrawing depositors’ money.