A responsible and informed source has revealed to "Al-Modon" the latest cross-referenced figures with public data regarding the Lebanese Army's operations against Syrian refugees who enter Lebanon through illegal border crossings and inside refugee camps.
At the northern borders of Lebanon, in Wadi Khaled, interception and deportation operations have significantly increased. In August alone, at least 6,000 Syrians were deported or returned across the border, raising the total number of Syrians deported or departed as of 2023 to approximately 11,000.
In the Bekaa region, since September 8th up to the current date, the Lebanese Army has conducted at least 120 raids on unofficial refugee camps, resulting in the confiscation of property belonging to some refugees and the arrest of at least 85 refugees, most of whom were men.
Field data suggests that approximately 60 people, including at least 30 registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), have been deported.
This reveals that security forces and the military no longer distinguish between refugees for security and political reasons since the end of 2011 and infiltrators crossing the borders, commonly referred to as "economic refugees," who are currently contributing to a new wave of displacement.
Security Solution?
In general, these operations carried out by the army are linked to a decision by the Supreme Defense Council issued on April 15, 2019, which called for the deportation of Syrians entering Lebanon illegally. However, practical realities on the ground indicate numerous risks and a state of chaos in the arrest and deportation operations, given the highly complex border situation and the army's inability to fully control illegal border crossings.
Meanwhile, smugglers and trafficking networks continue to operate, with their activities forming a parallel economy involving hundreds of thousands of dollars, benefiting "top officials" and security personnel, including the Syrian army's "Fourth Division."
Earlier this year, "Al-Modon" had revealed that brokers in Syria coordinate with brokers in Lebanon to gather Syrians who wish to enter Lebanon at a specific point in Syria, where they then board buses in coordination with officers and soldiers from the Syrian Fourth Division, facilitating their passage in exchange for financial bribes. The average amount paid per Syrian individual is around $150, which is shared among brokers, smugglers, soldiers at checkpoints, and bus drivers.
While field information indicates that deportation and arrest operations are being carried out haphazardly, the fate of a wide segment of Syrians is at risk.
However, the official Lebanese stance, which currently relies on security solutions, does not, according to observers, dare to demand a clear and explicit stance from the Syrian regime regarding facilitating the passage of Syrians into Lebanon through illegal border crossings. It also does not question the role of the Fourth Division in this context, which has amassed a significant amount of financial bribes. Lebanon continues to treat Syrians as marginalized entities without a regime or a state responsible for their fate.
As a reminder, the Lebanese General Security has suspended the arrival of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees at the land borders since December 2021. This makes it extremely challenging to verify information related to movements across borders.
Political Manipulation
In Lebanese politics, it's noteworthy that operations of raids and deportations often coincide with security and social tensions in Lebanon. This time, they occurred amidst the events in "Ain al-Helweh," and similar campaigns took place during the bread and bakeries crisis last year, as well as in April of the previous year when media, municipal, political, and partisan campaigns calling for the deportation of Syrians escalated, reaching the point of calls for protests.
While Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati is dealing with the Syrian refugee issue on international platforms in New York, and Lebanon appears incapable of forging a bilateral agreement with the Syrian regime to implement a Syrian refugee return plan, especially since the latter has not expressed any explicit willingness for their return without a political cost, the question remains: Who are the parties with the power to bypass the Lebanese army at the land border crossings between the two countries?
What exacerbates the chaos in managing the Syrian influx through unofficial border crossings, along with the deportation and detention operations, is that Syrians entering Lebanon through official crossings and registering their names with the Lebanese General Security have no mechanism requiring the latter to inform the UN Commission about them, especially since they officially stopped registering Syrians in 2015, as per the Lebanese government's decision.
Chaos and Money
According to human rights sources, the current deportation operations do not follow the binding legal process, which requires giving Syrians a specific time frame and making a deportation decision judicially after appearing before a judge. There are also suspicions about whether some of the deported Syrians are not involved in illegal border crossings for economic reasons, which adds to concerns about their fate.
However, other information made available to al-Modon indicates that some of those being deported, upon reaching the Lebanese-Syrian border, are paying money to re-enter Lebanon through smugglers.
In practice, amidst all the confusion and chaos in Lebanon's management of the Syrian refugee issue, the resolution of this crisis, which has reverberated in New York and all countries hosting Syrian refugees, remains contingent on a comprehensive political solution involving the international community, the host country, and the Syrian state.
Meanwhile, many believe that Lebanon continues to handle the issue outside of its official narrative to divert attention away from the parties truly responsible for Lebanon's current situation.
Simultaneously, following the previous announcement of the UN Commission's approval to hand over data related to Syrian refugees to the Lebanese government, information from "Al-Modon" suggests that both sides are currently in the stage of technical discussions on how Lebanon will receive the data. This matter is subject to Lebanon's commitment to international standards under an official contract that protects the data of Syrian refugees from being shared with any third party.