Syria wants coordination with Lebanon on new visa rules

[webfact]

Syria wants coordination with Lebanon on new visa rules
RYAN LUCAS, Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's ambassador to Lebanon called on Saturday for coordination with Lebanese authorities after Beirut announced plans to impose unprecedented restrictions on Syrians trying to enter Lebanon.

Beginning Jan. 5, Syrians will require a visa to enter Lebanon, according to new regulations posted online by Lebanon's General Directorate of General Security. The move marks the most significant attempt by Lebanese authorities to stem the influx of some 1.5 million Syrians who have sought refuge in Lebanon from the civil war raging in their homeland.

For Lebanon, a country of 4.5 million, the flood of Syrian refugees has placed a tremendous strain on the country's economy, resources, infrastructure and delicate sectarian balance.

On Saturday, Syrian Ambassador Ali Abdel-Karim Ali said Damascus understands the new measures but that "the issue of Syrians entering and leaving needs coordination and integration between the concerned parties in the two countries," according to Lebanon's state news agency.

The United Nations refugee agency is seeking clarification on several aspects of the rules, including how they will impact refugees already in Lebanon and whether people in immediate need of protection will still be allowed in, said Ron Redmond, a regional spokesman for UNHCR.

Lebanon began imposing tighter restrictions on a more informal basis last summer. Since then, the number of refugee registrations in Lebanon has dropped by more than 50 percent, Redmond said.

"That's an indication that a lot of people aren't getting in here," Redmond said. "But still, people are getting through, and we want to ensure that the most vulnerable do get through."

More than 3 million people have fled Syrian since the country's conflict began in March 2011. The vast majority of them have ended up in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq.

"These governments have been so stressed, and these countries put under such pressure with these huge numbers of refugees coming across, that we can understand why they feel it's necessary to take action," Redmond said. "We just want to ensure that nobody is being sent back to danger."
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Associated Press writer Maamoun Youssef contributed from Cairo.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-01-05

[rickirs]

Asaad has been using Syria's neighboring countries to care for Syrian refugees so he can fight the civil war with minimal cost. And Asaad doesn't need civilians who can't be loyal to his regime. If further refugees were prevented from leaving the country, they might turn more activiely against the government, having nothing to lose but their lives.

[Morch]

As far as I understand, by now the refugees are running away. Period. Not necessarily just as a result of Assad's forces action, but also due to the general anarchy, lawlessness and violence caused by the factions fighting against the regime. Doubt that all have clear political affiliations, or that they are potential fighters. Most are probably just ordinary folk.

The refugee situation is used by all parties involved to further their respective agendas, and this is nothing original. The figures of possible refugees to be accepted by Western countries (without getting into the related argument) pale in comparison to the numbers cited as pouring into Syria's neighbors. While Turkey could, conceivably, handle more refugees (given proper aid and support), Jordan and Lebanon are in worse shape economically and socially, hard to imagine they could keep this up for long.