FPM leader Gebran Bassil (L.) meets with Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Rudakov on June 29, 2022. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — The head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gebran Bassil, on Wednesday met with the Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Rudakov and discussed the Lebanese-Israeli maritime border negotiations, the return of Syrian refugees to their country and the situation in Ukraine and its effects, the state-run National News Agency reported.
Here’s what we know:
• According to the NNA, the Russian ambassador also congratulated Bassil on the 2022 parliamentary election results for FPM.
• Yesterday, Bassil, following a meeting with Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati as part of the non-binding parliamentary consultations, raised the matter of Syrian refugees, saying that “we have seen the international community’s desire to keep them [in Lebanon]. Lebanon is not able anymore to absorb the burden of refugees and the next government has to drop the label of refugees from them in order to secure their return.”
• Since 2016, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has recorded about 69,400 registered refugees who have voluntarily returned to Syria from Lebanon. In 2019, the peak year for returns, UNHCR recorded some 22,700 “voluntary returns” of Syrian refugees from Lebanon. However, human rights groups have documented numerous cases of returnees who were arrested upon their return and subsequently were tortured or died in detention. According to the Access Center for Human Rights, there were 59 cases of “arbitrary deportation” from Lebanon to Syria in 2021.