Former President Michel Aoun during a speech delivered on Nov. 21, 2021. (Credit: Archive photo by Dalati Nohra)
Former President Michel Aoun on Saturday called on Lebanese authorities to “revoke the refugee status of Syrians” residing in Lebanon, arguing that the presence of the majority of them is no longer justified following the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024.
“Following recent developments regarding the reduction of the role of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Lebanon, the decrease in donor funding, and, simultaneously, the repatriation programs that some European countries have begun to adopt, it is imperative that the Lebanese authorities revoke the refugee status of Syrians, which would render the presence of 80 percent of them illegal,” Aoun said in a statement.
According to him, “this approach obliges the government to radically change its policy, not to limit itself to voluntary return programs, to immediately implement repatriation programs for Syrian refugees, and to carry them out.”
“Just as we refused years ago any procrastination, bargaining, or conditioning the return of refugees on a political solution, we reiterate today, following the disappearance of the reason for their exile with the fall of the former regime, our refusal of any new procrastination, political bargaining, or submission to intimidation or persuasion campaigns from any party,” he concluded.
On July 1, the UNHCR and the Lebanese government launched the “voluntary return of Syrian refugees” program. According to the UNHCR, “so far in 2025, 168,000 people have been removed from our records due to verified or presumed returns.” By the end of July, 17,000 people were already registered to return to Syria, while the Lebanese government aims for “between 200,000 and 400,000 returns” by the end of the year, according to Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayyed.
The Free Patriotic Movement (FPM, led by Gebran Bassil, Michel Aoun’s son-in-law) has, for years, made the issue of Syrian refugees a central cause, even calling for their expulsion while the neighboring country was ravaged by war and Bashar al-Assad — overthrown on Dec. 8, 2024, by a rebel coalition dominated by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham — was still in power. In 2015, when Bassil was foreign minister, the Lebanese state asked the UNHCR to stop registering refugees.
