UNHCR’s representative in Lebanon, Ayaki Ito, seated center, meets with refugees in a tented settlement in Minyeh, North Lebanon. (Credit: UNHCR)
BEIRUT — A Syrian refugee living in Lebanon was found dead by apparent suicide on Friday following threats of deportation to Syria, where he was wanted for mandatory military service, his relative in Turkey told L'Orient Today.
Some obscurity surrounded the incident, with a spokesperson for the Internal Security Forces and another for the Lebanese Army telling L'Orient Today that they have no information on the young man's reported death.
Moa'n Khalil, the mayor of Ghobeiry municipality where the man was reportedly living before his death, also told L'Orient Today that he has no information on the incident beyond what he had seen on social media.
Images purportedly of the young man circulated on social media Saturday and Sunday, alleging to show him dead from the reported suicide.
The 26-year-old man, Anas Ali al-Musaytef, had been a refugee in Lebanon since 2017 and hadn't stepped foot in Syria since, according to his relative and journalist Qahtan al-Sharqi. Musaytef, who left behind a widow and a young daughter, was reportedly wanted for mandatory military service in the Syrian army and had been threatened with deportation from Lebanon in recent days, Sharqi said.
A former neighbor from Musaytef's home village of Manbij, who said he has been in close contact with the man's family members in Turkey in recent days, recounted a similar story.
The Palestinian Red Crescent took Musaytef to a mosque in Beirut's Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp, where his body stayed for around 24 hours in a mortuary chamber, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent who cited an official Palestinian source in the camp.
Musaytef was later buried in Lebanon, Sharqi told L'Orient Today.
His immediate family members have declined to talk with the media, fearing retribution.
Anti-Syrian sentiment in Lebanon has been on the rise, especially in recent days.
On Wednesday, cabinet ministers tasked various ministries with implementing restrictions on Syrian refugees in Lebanon and gave a one-week deadline for the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, to provide data on displaced Syrians.
Ministers called on security forces to prevent irregular land border crossings into Lebanon, adding that “refugee status” will be revoked for those Syrians leaving Lebanese territory. The ministers also tasked the Interior Ministry and Social Affairs Ministry with registering the births of Syrians in Lebanon in coordination with UNHCR. The Labor Ministry was tasked with "tightening labor control within the permitted sectors" for Syrians in Lebanon. Syrians are legally only allowed to work in agriculture and several other labor-intensive fields in Lebanon.
Caretaker Justice Minister Henri Khoury was asked to negotiate the “immediate” deportation of Syrian detainees.
Dozens of displaced Syrian nationals have been deported since the start of April amid aggressive policing of the refugee community in Lebanon, security officials and a humanitarian source told the AFP news agency last week.
Additional reporting by Mohamad El Chamaa, Madeline Edwards and Muntasser Abdallah