Arslan on Refugee Return: Problem in Lebanon, Not in Syria
Lebanese Democratic Party leader MP Talal Arslan on Tuesday commented on the delay in returning Syrian refugees to their country, noting that the “problem is not in Syria but rather in Lebanon.”
“Under the sponsorship of President Michel Aoun, we are convinced of the importance of resolving the Syrian refugee crisis in a manner befitting of refugees as well as of Lebanese residents,” Arslan said at a press conference.
“With all due honesty I say that the problem is not in Syria but rather in Lebanon,” Arslan added, suggesting that Lebanese parties are obstructing the repatriation.
State Minister for Refugee Affairs Saleh al-Gharib is a member of Arslan's party.
Lebanon, a country of some four million people, hosts between 1.5 and two million Syrians on its soil after they fled the eight-year civil war next door.
Nearly a million of these are registered as refugees with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
Source: Naharnet
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