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Lebanon restricts visas for Syrian refugees

January 5, 2015

Beirut is enforcing tighter visa restrictions for Syrian refugees who are fleeing the war in their country. More than one million Syrians have sought refuge in neighboring Lebanon.

https://p.dw.com/p/1EFCp
Syrische Flüchtlinge in einem Flüchtlingslager im Libanon
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari

A massive influx of refugees into Lebanon has prompted the government to impose visa restrictions on Syrians for the first time in the history of the two countries.

Social Affairs Minister Rachid Derbas told the Voice of Lebanon Radio that the visas could be obtained at the border, German news agency dpa reported.

Under the new rules, Syrians would be able to enter Lebanon only with the sponsorship of a Lebanese citizen or if they had documents supporting their status in one of a number of categories such as tourist, business or transit visitors.

Earlier, Syrian citizens had to simply show their identity card to cross over to Lebanon. However, Beirut, with a population of fewer than five million, was struggling to deal with the increasing number of Syrian refugees- now at 1.1 million- which make up almost one fifth of Lebanon's population.

Beirut overwhelmed by crisis

Lebanon had been asking the international community for help for a long time with refugees, who had been fleeing conflict in Syria. In October 2014, Derbas announced that his country would "no longer officially receive any displaced Syrians" with some exceptions in humanitarian cases.

Khalil Jebara, adviser to Lebanon's interior minister told AFP news agency that his country would respect international obligations, "but it was high time to regulate the issue of entering Lebanon."

"Their presence imposes a great security, economic and social burden on Lebanon and pressure that the infrastructure can no longer take," Jebara said.

UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said new refugee registrations were much lower after Lebanon's announcement last October. Redmond said that the UNHCR understood Beirut's problems, but would work with it so "refugees aren't pushed back into situations where their lives are in danger."

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees pegs the number of displaced persons from Syria at 1.1 million, although thousands are believed to have not registered themselves or crossed the border illegally.

mg/bw (dpa, AFP)