Unwelcoming Lebanon Kicks Syrian Refugees Back To Tormentors

What a disgrace:

[Syrian] refugees and wounded made it to what they thought was the safety of Sunni Muslims in the area, who have long hated the neighbouring Syrian regime. But according to witnesses, their relief was short-lived as almost all the refugees were rounded up within hours of their arrival over the weekend by Lebanese intelligence agents acting under orders to prevent Syrians from escaping the violent crackdown by Assad’s Ba’athist regime.

The arrested refugees were returned to the Syrian security services by daybreak, said residents and witnesses interviewed by the Guardian.

This is beyond shameful. People are seeking refuge in our country and we throw them back to starve and get humiliated? Civilized countries the world over don’t extradite refugees and asylum seekers if they knew that they will be persecuted or tortured as a result. Even poor African countries took in tens of thousands of Ivorian refugees who were fleeing the insanity of Laurent Gbagbo.

Why are we different? Why are we less humane than Westerners and Africans? Who is giving the orders to round up and kick out the Syrian refugees?

Here’s how one Lebanese official justified the policy:

“It’s not easy to be Lebanon in this situation […] The lack of government [in Beirut] weakens any attempt to form a humane policy, while at the same time, we have to battle Syrian accusations that all of their demonstrations are the result of terrorists infiltrating Syria from places like Tripoli. They’ve threatened to send troops into northern Lebanon repeatedly, and with that area’s history of Sunni tensions with the Alawite, we consider Tripoli and area around it to be on the verge of exploding into violence already. So we are concerned that as more Syrians enter Lebanon in the north, that situation might become just like what we’re seeing in Syria.”

The point is fair, but the solution is not to throw them back to Syria. We can find a middle ground were we can set up a safe zone, perhaps in coordination with UNHCR, where the refugees can’t get into Lebanon proper but at the same time will be sheltered from whatever they escaped from..