General Security Chief: Refugees' Humanitarian Situation Prevents us from Closing Border with Syria

General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim predicted on Wednesday that the crisis in Syria would last “a long time,” reported Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5).

He added: “The humanitarian condition of the refugees arriving in Lebanon from Syria prevents us from closing the border with the neighboring country.”

“We either act in a humane manner or become racist,” he remarked.

“We only have one enemy and that is Israel,” Ibrahim said.

Whoever has lost the plot should remember to focus his attention south of the border, declared the general security chief.

“We are concerned with how to confront the repercussions of the crisis in Lebanon,” he stressed.

He stated that there are some 160,000 registered Syrian refugees and some 13,000 Palestinian refugees, who have also fled Syria.

Over 46,000 people have been killed since the eruption of anti-regime protests in Syria in March 2011.

A number of Syrians and Palestinians have since fled the unrest to neighboring countries.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in December, 170,637 Syrian refugees have been registered in Lebanon.

Some 10,000 Palestinian refugees have also poured into Lebanon since regime forces targeted the Yarmuk refugee camp in Syria.

Some March 8 camp ministers had recently demanded that the border with Syria be shut due to the heavy burden they are having on Lebanon.

The proposal has since been criticized by a number of officials.