Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad has called for the removal of all obstacles preventing Syrian refugees from returning to their homeland.
"Syria will welcome the return of all its citizens to their homeland and will ensure the necessary conditions for this," he stated during a telephone conversation with his Lebanese counterpart Abdullah Bou Habib, as reported by the SANA news agency.
Mekdad emphasized that "the primary impediments to resolving the issue of displaced individuals are the ongoing American and Turkish occupations of northern parts of the country." Additionally, according to Mekdad, the economic sanctions imposed by the US and other Western nations, which inflict suffering upon the Syrian people, have had disastrous consequences for Syria.
According to the agency, the parties agreed on an upcoming visit by the Lebanese delegation to Damascus, scheduled for the end of September. They stressed the significance of coordination between Syrian and Lebanese authorities regarding refugee matters.
On September 12, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati expressed deep concern during a government meeting about the growing influx of refugees from Syria. He noted that the increasing number of refugees poses a significant threat to the Lebanese state, which already accommodates 2 million Syrians. The prime minister emphasized that this situation could potentially "lead to a demographic imbalance that would adversely affect the peaceful coexistence of religious communities in Lebanon."
Acting Minister of Displaced Persons Issam Sharaf al-Din reported that the Lebanese military detained 8,000 individuals at the border in August alone. The total number of border infiltrations has now exceeded 20,000 since the beginning of the year.
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Photo: anjči/Creative Commons 2.0
Based on materials from TASS