Lebanese minister is searching Damascus to trigger return of displaced Syrians

The file of the Syrians displaced in Lebanon has returned to the fore, since the Minister of Social Affairs and Tourism Ramzi Al-Musharrafiya went yesterday to Syria on a two-day visit during which he will hold meetings to address this file and the mechanisms for activating the return plan, which has not yet been implemented despite its approval months ago. Musharrafieh is scheduled to meet with several Syrian ministers, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Local Administration and Environment and the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor.
And Musharrafiya participated last November in a conference for the displaced that Moscow convened in Damascus, where he stressed the need not to link the return of the displaced to the political solution to the Syrian crisis, noting that the direct and indirect costs for Lebanon of Syrian displacements are estimated at more than $ 40 billion as a result of pressure on public services, subsidized materials, infrastructure and jobs.
The Lebanese government hopes that this visit will lead to practical steps for the return of the displaced, but the member of the “Future” bloc, MP Bakr Al-Hujairi, excludes that due to the lack of intention of the Syrian regime to return them. , stating in an interview with “Asharq Al-Awsat” that the displaced themselves do not want to return due to the difficulty of living in Syria, as the regime has not worked to prepare for their return. Al-Hujairi considered that the efforts made by Lebanon “do not go beyond words” and do not deviate from the “propaganda framework”, and that they will not produce any results, especially without the support of the international community, not only to pressure the regime to return the displaced, but also to encourage them to return by providing assistance that guarantees them the means to live with dignity in their country. For his part, a member of the “Strong Lebanon” bloc (which includes representatives of the Free Patriotic Movement), MP Asaad Durgham believes that the visit of the Minister of Social Affairs to Syria is a positive step and a beginning that contributes to drawing more serious steps in this file, which has become a priority for Lebanon given the economic situation, the hardships it is going through and the social crises that may derive from them. In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Dergham indicated that last year it did not witness an active movement for the return of displaced people, for reasons related to Corona and border measures. The Lebanese government approved in July, and before its resignation, a “general policy document for the return of displaced persons (Syrians)” prepared by the Ministry of Social Affairs, but the spread of the Corona epidemic, the explosion of the Beirut port, and then the resignation of the government, about a month after the approval of this document, prevented its implementation.
In addition to the plan of the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Lebanese General Security sponsors operations to repatriate the displaced in successive batches. General Security had stimulated the return through easing procedures at the borders that allowed those who voluntarily returned to Syria to resolve their situation at the borders without any hindrance.
The number of Syrians who returned through the Public Security Mechanism in coordination with the Syrian authorities from 2017 to 2019 reached 19,884 Syrian citizens, including 14,825 Syrians registered as displaced with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and 5,059 they were in Lebanon and not registered as displaced. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that there are 885,000 Syrians displaced in Lebanon.