Sec. Gen. Aboul Gheit meets with Foreign Minister, says support on Lebanon's crisis is "moral"

Following Saturday’s consultative meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Beirut, Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said the meeting was “a message” of support from Arab countries for Lebanon.

Here's what we know:

    • In a joint press conference with caretaker Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, Gheit said the League’s support is “moral, because the Arab League cannot provide gas or electricity, but it can urge people to move, as it is a moral process to inform humanity that there is a problem and it must strive to solve it.”

    • In his comments, Bou Habib said the Lebanese government had presented “the necessity of adopting a new approach to the issue of the Syrian refugees that does not lead to financing their stay in the host countries.” On that point, Gheit said, “To be very frank and perhaps very cruel, everyone supports Lebanon in ending the issue of the pressure of Syrian refugees on its land.”

    • Lebanese officials frequently call for the return of refugees to Syria. Previous attempts to organize a large-scale return have largely fallen flat. Meanwhile, the Lebanese government has forcibly deported a number of refugees. The Access Center for Human Rights, an NGO based between Lebanon and France and focused on the conditions of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, recorded 59 cases of “arbitrary deportation” in 2021.

    • Bou Habib also pleaded with the Arab ministers for Syria to be readmitted to the league after 11 years of suspended membership. “We hope that the Syrian president will take part in the Arab summit which will take place in Algeria, but this requires Arab unanimity," he said. A summit of the Arab League is expected in Algiers next fall.

    • The consultative meeting in Beirut did not result in any formal decisions.