A boat of informal migrants intercepted by the Lebanese Army on Dec. 31, 2022, off Selaata, in northern Lebanon. (Credit: Lebanese Army)
BEIRUT — The Lebanese Army and security forces on early Thursday morning halted an irregular migrant boat from taking to sea off the coast of Abdeh in Akkar, a security source and eyewitnesses told L'Orient Today.
This is the second time in July that security forces halt irregular sea migration attempts in northern Lebanon, and the fourth foiled attempt altogether.
It is not yet clear how many people had planned to make the most recent crossing attempt.
On Saturday, the Internal Security Forces (ISF) said they arrested more than 200 Syrians and several Lebanese citizens in northern Lebanon as they were preparing to set out in irregular migration boats to Italy, while the army announced that it had arrested five smugglers and 49 Syrians in Deir Ammar who were also on their way to migrate to Europe by sea.
Informal migration attempts from Lebanon have dipped in recent months. From January to December 2022, UNHCR claimed to have received reports of 51 boats involved in irregular transit from Lebanon, with 4,334 passengers on board.
In 2022, 62.2 percent of would-be migrants were Syrians, 28 percent were Lebanese, and 11 percent were Palestinians, according to figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Several deadly accidents occurred these past years, during sea migration attempts on ill-equipped boats that ended in shipwrecks.