Migrants from North Lebanon who thought they were going to Italy by sea were transferred to Greece. (Credit: Screen capture of a video, provided by our correspondent Michel Hallak)
BEIRUT — Migrants leaving from North Lebanon and who thought they were going to Italy by sea, were transferred to Greece, according to a video broadcast on social networks and reported by our correspondent in North Lebanon.
Here's what we know:
• In this video, one of the migrants says that they first arrived to regional waters on the Italian side but "the European Union coast guard" took them on board a ship towards the Greek coast. "Greece is the cemetery of refugees, it kills them, drowns them," he added.
• Many people are trying to illegally leave a Lebanon by sea amid an ever worsening economic crisis. In mid-June, the Lebanese Army arrested 34 Syrian and Lebanese migrants between the regions of Sarafand and Saida, in southern Lebanon, while they were making preparations before sailing clandestinely for Europe.
• Last April, a migrant boat was shipwrecked off Qalamoun in North Lebanon. Seven dead bodies were recovered and 45 people were rescued, while around 30 others are still missing.