Naharnet

Aoun to UNHCR Representative: Refugees Drove Lebanon to Exhaustion

President Michel Aoun on Tuesday met at Baabda Palace with the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Lebanon, Ayaki Ito, with talks touching on displaced Syrians residing in Lebanon, the National News Agency reported on Tuesday.

“Lebanon hosts the largest number of Syrian refugees on its soil compared to its population and small area,” said Aoun to his visitor.

He added saying that Lebanon “has reached a stage of exhaustion as a result of the repercussions of this displacement.”

Lebanon, a crisis-wracked nation, says it hosts 1.5 million Syrians -- nearly a million of whom are registered as refugees with the United Nations.

Nine out of ten Syrians in Lebanon live in extreme poverty, the U.N. says.

Lebanese authorities have pressured Syrians to return even though rights groups warn that Syria is not yet safe.

Source: Naharnet


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