Iraq News Now

Lebanese authorities are making their most aggressive

campaign yet for Syrian refugees to return home and are taking action to ensure

they can’t put down roots.

Mirroring the rise of anti-migrant sentiment in Europe and

around the world, some in Lebanon say that after eight years of war in

neighboring Syria they have had enough of the burden of hosting the highest

concentration of refugees per capita in the world — 1 million amid a Lebanese

population of nearly 5 million — especially at a time when they are facing

austerity measures and a weakened economy.

Anti-refugee sentiment in Lebanon has waxed and waned in the

past. It’s been persistent but limited among a public torn by conflicting

feelings — resentment over past domination by Syria and worry over the

refugees’ impact on their country’s delicate sectarian balance, but also

sympathy for the refugees amid memories of their own displacement during

Lebanon’s long civil war.

But this time a rising star in the country’s politics has

latched onto the issue. Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil leads the campaign,

saying Syrians should return home and using nationalist language, like saying

the “genetic distinction” of Lebanese will unite them to confront the refugee

issue.

During one rally organized by Bassil’s party this month —

held under the slogan of “Employ a Lebanese” — protesters chanted, “Syria get

out.” Some attempted to storm a shop run by a Syrian, sparking a scuffle.

Posters have popped up in streets and online calling on residents to report any

Syrian working without a permit.

The tensions point to how a backlash in host countries

burdened by intractable refugee situations intertwines with local politics.

Numbers of displaced worldwide have swelled to record levels. The UN refugee

agency said Wednesday 71 million people are uprooted from their homes as of

this year — 26 million of them refugees, double the number 20 years ago.

“Out of this grim number, Lebanon stands out as the country

that has the highest number of refugees per capita,” said Mireille Girard, the

UNHCR representative in Lebanon. “It is a huge responsibility that Lebanon is

shouldering and the whole world has to show solidarity with the countries that

are in the front of refugee flow.”

Allies of Bassil in the government have begun enforcing laws

that were previously rarely implemented, shutting down shops owned by or

employing Syrians without permits and ordering the demolition of anything in

refugee camps that could be a permanent home.

The refugees are trying to weather the storm.

In the town of Arsal, near the Syrian border, where 60,000

refugees live in informal camps set up in the fields, Syrians have been tearing

down brick and concrete walls they had added to their shacks of canvas, sheet

metal and plastic, trying to make them able to withstand the harsh winters in

the mountainous area. The military gave them until July 1 to remove any wall

taller than waist high.

The Syrians said no matter how much authorities squeeze

them, they have no choice but to stay.

“They think a concrete block is what’s keeping us here?” one

woman, Um Hassan, said angrily. She said she can’t go back because her sons

will be drafted into the military of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The

demolition order, she said, left her and her family sleeping without a roof

over their head for over a week.

Most Syrians who came to Lebanon since 2011 were

impoverished and dispossessed. Despite years of receiving aid, 51 percent of

Syrian refugee families survive on less than $3 a day and 88 percent of

households are in debt. Of more than 660,000 school-aged Syrians in Lebanon,

54% are not enrolled in formal education and an estimated 40% remain out of any

kind of certified schooling.

Many Lebanese, in turn, complain that — despite $6 billion

of foreign aid invested to support Lebanon — the flood of refugees has

overwhelmed schools and the already debilitated infrastructure, increased rents

and forced Lebanese to compete with cheap Syrian labor. Some are resentful of

aid stipends some Syrians receive, pointing out that they don’t pay taxes and

often work illegally as well.

Lebanese face an upcoming year of austerity measures, and

critics say politicians are using the Syrians as a scapegoat for a damaged

economy and endemic corruption.

“The Lebanese public is frustrated and... wants anything to

dump all their anger on. So who is the weakest, the refugee,” said journalist

Diana Moukalled.

Bassil is the leader of the largest Christian party in

parliament and the government and the son-in-law of the country’s president. He

has been mobilizing a popular base and boosting his credentials as the prime

protector of Christians — some believe with the aim of one day replacing his

84-year father in law, President Michel Aoun.

He has popularized the term “Lebanon above all,” while

warning of an “international conspiracy” to settle Syrians in Lebanon, like

what happened with the Palestinian refugees. The influx of Palestinian

refugees, who fled or were driven out during the 1948 war surrounding the

creation of Israel, upset Lebanon’s sectarian balance, and armed Palestinian

factions were a key factor in the 1975-1990 civil war. After decades in

Lebanon, the Palestinians’ numbers have dwindled to about 175,000, living in

squalid camps with no access to public services, limited employment

opportunities and no rights to ownership or protections.

While pushing at home for implementation of laws against

refugees, Bassil has lobbied abroad for increased aid to Lebanon and an

organized return of Syrians.

“The one who speaks of refugees returning is not a racist or

a fascist, and those accusing us of racism either benefit (from the issue) or

are conspirators,” he said during a recent conference.

He has gained ground in a political sphere divided over

refugees and the Syrian war in general.

Bassil’s ally, Hezbollah, has backed Assad’s government in

the fight against rebels. Bassil’s political opponents — including other

Christian parties and the main Muslim Sunni party led by Prime Minister Saad

Hariri — have sided with Syria’s opposition. Hariri called Bassil’s rhetoric

“racist,” and the prime minister and his allies have pushed against his

campaign.

At a recent small rally in Beirut, politicians, activists

and Syrians held banners against hate speech. Paula Yacoubian, an independent

Armenian Christian politician at the rally, said the campaign to “dehumanize”

refugees is irresponsible.

“This is destructive and, even if it brings someone

popularity for now, in the long run it is very harmful, for Lebanon and the

Lebanese first of all,” she said.

Nasser Yassin, a professor of public policy at the American

University of Beirut, said he doesn’t believe there will be a widespread public

backlash against the refugees. But the rise of similar sentiments around the

world makes it harder to challenge.

“If Europe is actually violating human rights when it comes

to pushing people trying to cross the Mediterranean back to the Libyan

militias, they will turn a blind eye or (be) silent when the Lebanese

government is applying it,” he said.

The campaign is not simply political rhetoric.

Local vigilantes recently set fire to three tents in a

refugee camp in the eastern town of Deir al-Ahmar, and Syrians there scuffled

with the Lebanese firefighters, injuring one. An eviction order followed from

the municipality, forcing 400 Syrians to move their tents to a new spot.

In a possible violation of its international obligations,

Lebanon in April deported at least 16 Syrians, including some registered as

refugees, after they arrived in Beirut airport. Human Rights Watch and other

groups said some of the deported expressed fear of persecution in Syria and

were forced to sign “voluntary” repatriation forms, despite Beirut’s commitment

not to forcibly return any Syrians.

Lebanese authorities estimate that over 170,000 Syrians have

returned to their country between December 2017 and March 2019, many through

government-organized bus trips.

Aid groups and many Western countries say conditions are not

yet right for refugees’ return to Syria, with lack of a political resolution

and guarantees for their security.

In Arsal, Abu Fares, an organizer of the Syrian camp, said

the campaign to apply labor and building laws really aims to harass Syrians

into returning home. He is campaigning for an exemption or longer grace period

for the disabled or elderly in the camp who can’t do their own demolition.

A defector from Syria’s police force, Abu Fares said he

can’t fathom returning to Syria without a political settlement, a pardon and

new laws.

“But if they can’t have us here, just say it and take us out

of Lebanon” to another country besides Syria, he said.

Some have succumbed to pressure. Arsal’s mayor, Bassel

al-Hujairi, said nearly 200 Syrians registered to return to Syria after the

orders to bring down the walls.

Abu Ossama, a 74-year old Syrian and a retired army general,

said he put his name on the list.

“I used to be safe here. It is not anymore,” he said. “God

will be my protector.”