Syrians evicted from their homes, at Kfar Dlaqous in the district of Zgharta. (Credit: Michel Hallak/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Member of Parliament Razi al-Hajj (Lebanese Forces) claimed in a statement on Wednesday that the number of Syrian refugees in the Metn district "decreased by 15 percent" over the last six months, following "strict measures" he instructed several municipalities to follow.
A report from his political office reveals that the office sent letters to mayors in the Metn district, urging them to implement "strict procedures and measures" to "reduce the number of Syrians in their municipalities."
This initiative by the Lebanese Forces comes after years of targeted political messaging against the Syrian refugee presence with it gravely increasing after a party official, Pascal Sleiman, was killed in April, reportedly by Syrian nationals in a "robbery gone wrong."
Hajj's office claims the report is based on a survey conducted in January 2024 that detailed the number of Syrians in the district and "the obstacles municipalities faced in addressing this phenomenon."
A second survey was conducted again in the last week of June 2024 "through direct communication with the municipalities to ensure that the procedures are implemented and to inquire about the current number of Syrians within the scope of those municipalities," Hajj's statement added. The statement did not elaborate on what the procedures entailed.
He claimed that the number of Syrians, "illegally" residing in the Metn district "decreased by 9,328 within six months; from 60,978 to 51,650.”
This came following "the campaigns carried out by the Strong Republic bloc [LF] with the relevant government and security authorities," Hajj's statement said.
According to Hajj's report, 46 out of 53 municipalities were able to effectively implement the measures, leading to a decrease in Syrian numbers. However, seven municipalities were unable to "fully apply the procedures."
The report also noted challenges in towns with residents depending on the Syrian workforce.
"Around 19 towns do not have municipalities, and therefore measures cannot be taken effectively due to the inability of the mukhtars to carry out this task," the statement noted.
Additionally, a targeted survey was conducted along the Metn coast, monitoring "over 500 shops" believed to be occupied by "illegal Syrians" in the Burj Hammoud, Nabaa, and Sin al-Fil areas — a region described as difficult to accurately count.
"About 130 illegal shops were surveyed by the office of MP Hajj, in cooperation with the Metn Lebanese Forces cooperation team, and they were handed over to General Security one by one," the statement added.
In May, hundreds of shops in the country were forcibly closed by General Security because they were owned by unregistered Syrian nationals.
The Syrian refugee issue regained prominence on the Lebanese political scene after the European Union announced a €1 billion aid package for Lebanon in early May. The EU's announcement was made against a backdrop of renewed hostility towards Syrian migrants and displaced persons, following the assassination of Sleiman.
Since then, the authorities have launched a series of measures aimed at restricting the presence of Syrians in the country and opening up the possibility of deporting illegal migrants.
In one recent example in June, a State Security patrol sealed off several tents and rooms owned by Lebanese and rented by displaced Syrians in Kfar Dlaqous in the Zgharta district.
An estimated 1.5 million Syrians live in Lebanon, the country with the largest refugee population per capita in the world. Around 800,000 of them are UN-registered refugees.