Would-be migrants transported on board a truck in North Lebanon. (Credit: Internal Security Forces website)
BEIRUT — The Internal Security Forces (ISF) said they arrested more than 200 Syrians and several Lebanese citizens on Saturday in North Lebanon as they were preparing to set out in irregular migration boats to Italy.
Six suspects were also apprehended by the police for organizing irregular crossings to Europe.
The ISF said in a statement that its first raid occurred on the road linking Minieh to Dennieh, in North Lebanon.
Security officers arrested 111 Syrian would-be sea migrants, including women and children, along with two Lebanese smugglers and a third person whose nationality was not specified.
The second arrest took place on the Mouhammara road, also in the north. In addition to three Lebanese smugglers, 120 Syrians were arrested in that raid. The ISF added that the would-migrants were heading to the Selaata coast, in Batroun, after having paid between $6,000 and $7,000 per person to the smugglers.
Earlier on Saturday, the army also announced that it had arrested five smugglers and 49 Syrians in Deir Ammar, North Lebanon, who were also on their way to Selaata to migrate to Europe by sea.
The army said in a statement Sunday afternoon that it had arrested seven people in the village of Bebnine, Akkar governorate, whom it said were involved in the sea migration attempt.
The army also seized weapons and ammunition from the people and launched and investigation.
Irregular migration by sea from Lebanon appeared to decrease in September after a boat that had set off from northern Lebanon capsized off the coast of Syria's Tartous, killing more than 150 people.
Several other fatal accidents have occurred in recent years during similar migration attempts.
Between Jan. to Dec. 2022, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said it received reports of 51 boats involved in irregular sea crossings from Lebanon, totaling 4,334 passengers.
In 2022, 62.2 percent of would-be migrants were Syrians, 28 percent were Lebanese and 11 percent were Palestinians, according to UNHCR figures.