BEIRUT — In a statement released on Thursday, the Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF) announced that they had intercepted an attempted human smuggling operation in Tripoli in mid-May.

"According to information gathered by the intelligence unit of the ISF, unidentified individuals were found to be preparing for a smuggling operation to transport people through the coast of Tripoli," the statement noted.

After an investigation, "the Information Branch identified three Lebanese nationals" allegedly involved in the smuggling operation. The three perpetrators were born in 1996, 1998, and 2003. The oldest reportedly has three arrest warrants against him related to human trafficking.

"On May 15, 2024, Lebanese security forces located the suspects and 20 individuals of Syrian nationality on a beach in the al-Arida area [in northern Lebanon]. The suspects were apprehended for attempting to smuggle the Syrian nationals across the sea," the statement continued.

Following their arrest, the suspects were handed over to the competent authorities to face legal proceedings, per the directives of the judiciary.

Last year, 30 men left through illegal means from Bibnine (Akkar) for Cyprus and are currently incarcerated there. Their families have repeatedly urged the Lebanese authorities to negotiate their return to Lebanon, with some of them set to serve up to five years in prison in Cyprus.

Migrants, asylum seekers and refugees leaving Lebanon by boat are generally looking for a better life in Europe, and often head for Cyprus, an island on the front line of migratory flows within the European Union. Cyprus has been calling for years for more funding and political support from Brussels to deal with this issue. The authorities claim that asylum seekers account for five percent of the 915,000 inhabitants of the southern part of the island.

The central Mediterranean is considered the world's most dangerous migration route, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).