La direction générale de la Surete Generale a estimé 2 080 000, le nombre de réfugiés syriens présents au Pays des cèdres hier, alors que les autorités libanaises ont annoncé un premier retour volontaire de 6 000 d’entre eux prévu pour aujourd’hui. Ces chiffres ont été révélés par le directeur général de la Surete Generale en personne, le général Ibrahim Abbas.
Ainsi, 3 groupes pourraient partir du Liban via les passages de Masnaa, d’Arsaal ou encore via Al Aboudia au Nord du Liban alors que les organisations internationales tentent de contraire les autorités libanaises à interrompre ce programme de retour volontaire. Ces 6 000 personnes s’ajouteraient aux 540 000 personnes déjà retournées dans leur pays depuis 2017.
Autre polémique, si selon les chiffres officiels des autorités libanaises, le nombre de réfugiés atteint plus de 2 millions de personnes, il ne résiderait que 900 000 réfugiés syriens selon le HCR sur base des individus enregistrés sur ces listes.
Focus
Lebanon ranks 2nd among the countries that host the most Syrian refugees in proportion to the local population, (High Commissioner for Refugees entitled Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2019). The country of cedars also has a large community of Palestinian refugees whose presence was at the origin of the civil war from 1975 to 1990.
According to the High Commissioner for Refugees, Lebanon had 916,156 Syrian refugees on its soil at the end of 2019, compared to 949,666 a year earlier. 910,600 refugees are believed to be of Syrian origin.
As a reminder, a report prepared by the Ministry of Finance and the United Nations Development Program in 2020 on the impact of the Syrian refugee crisis on the Lebanese economy between 2011 and 2018 estimated the cost of the presence of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, impacting all sectors, including education and electricity, but also causing a fall in the Gross Domestic Product while Lebanon was impacted by a serious economic crisis that emerged in broad daylight in 2019 and characterized by a rapid deterioration of the parity between the Lebanese pound and the dollar. Thus, the national currency lost more than 90% of its value against the greenback. 82% of the Lebanese population would now live below the poverty line and 36% in a state of extreme poverty, leading to tensions with Syrian refugees.
However, some political parties have so far refused to discuss the return of Syrian refugees by refusing to discuss the necessary procedures with Damascus, even if the Lebanese authorities have endorsed a plan to promote this return in 2020.
Faced with the deterioration of social and economic conditions, some Syrian but also Palestinian refugees and even Lebanese nationals are trying to exodus to Europe, in particular via boat people bound for Cyprus. Several boats have been intercepted in recent months.
