The belongings of Syrian residents in Kouba, North Lebanon, ordered to evacuate their homes on May 28, 2024. (Credit: Lyana Alameddine/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Seventy Syrian nationals living in Kousba, Koura district, were expelled from their homes on Thursday, after refusing to comply with an April 17 eviction notice by North Lebanon’s governor, according to a statement from General Security.
The ruling dictated that Syrians who do not meet the “legal conditions" for displacement, work or residence in Lebanon would be removed from their homes. The North Lebanon Governorate has not specified where displayed Syrians are meant to go following the eviction.
General Security officials stand by as Syrian residents from Kousba are forced to evacuate their homes on orders from North Lebanon's governor, on June 6, 2024. (Photo sent to our correspondent Michel Hallak)
The emptied homes have been “sealed with red wax under judicial orders.” When a property is sealed with red wax in Lebanon, it becomes illegal for individuals to access it without approval from the state security services.
This decision comes at a time of increased anti-Syrian sentiment within Lebanon — especially since April, when Pascal Sleiman, a Lebanese Forces official, was killed and his body found over the border in Syria — as well as a tightening of municipality control over Syrian residents.
In April, Lebanon’s caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi called on Lebanon’s eight governorates to “enumerate and register” displaced Syrians as well as halt renting real estate or issuing documents to the unregistered refugees.
Just last week, security agents evicted approximately 1,100 undocumented Syrian refugees in Kouba, in Batroun district, giving them until the end of the day to leave.
General Security officials stand by as Syrian residents from Kousba are forced to evacuate their homes on orders from North Lebanon's governor, on June 6, 2024. (Photo sent to our correspondent Michel Hallak)
Lebanon has resumed a campaign promoting the “voluntary return” of Syrian migrants and refugees. Through a convoy that departed on May 14, around 200 of the estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees living in Lebanon returned to Syria, crossing the border into Syria via the Qaa and Zemrani crossing points.
International organizations and human rights groups point to the documentation of countless cases where Syrians have been detained, kidnapped, abused, and forced to serve in the army upon returning to Syria — a concern that is echoed by many Syrians in Lebanon when considering the choices ahead of them.