Miqati to Kick Off Arab, European Tour over Burden of Syrian Refugees

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati is expected to kick off a tour to Arab and European countries to urge them to commit to their financial pledges to share the burden of the displaced Syrians, who have put a severe strain on Lebanon's economy.

Miqati, according to An Nahar newspaper published on Monday, will make Qatar his first stop of the tour, which will include Kuwait also.

Kuwait hosted the first donors conference in January, when participating nations pledged $1.5 billion for Syrian refugees. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has already called on the Emir of Kuwait to host a second conference.

The U.N. launched a record $5.2-billion aid appeal in June to fund operations in Syria and neighboring countries, including Lebanon. The appeal aims to raise $3.8 billion for refugees and $1.4 billion for operations in Syria.

There are over 800,000 registered Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

The unregistered refugees bring the number close to 1.3 million.

Last week, Miqati said upon arriving in Ankara on a one-day official visit where he met with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan “Lebanon is dealing with the case of Syrian refugees in a humanitarian and fraternal manner.”

“Turkey will seek all possible efforts to help Lebanon in this matter,” said Erdogan.

According to An Nahar, Miqati sensed that the international commitment is “not more than pledges.”

Miqati said that he's considering the establishment of camps for the displaced along the border and imposing further measures on those who are crossing into Lebanon.

The security and political crises in Lebanon have been topped with a huge economic burden caused by the Syrian refugees who are escaping the fighting in the neighboring country.

The Lebanese authorities have warned that the massive influx of refugees in the past week could no longer be resolved through humanitarian aid.

They called for a political or security solution to end the crisis.