An employee of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) checking the passenger list of the Syrian refugee convoy, on October 2, 2025, in Karantina, in eastern Beirut. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient-le Jour)
BEIRUT — As the new Syrian parliament members were chosen on Monday through indirect suffrage in the first legislative elections since Assad, Gebran Bassil’s Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) called on Lebanon to "prevent the return to Lebanon of those who left to vote."
"While Syrian displaced persons are heading to Syria to take part in the first parliamentary elections since the fall of the former regime, and are doing so through official border crossings, all the false excuses justifying their continued presence in Lebanon — let alone attempts at naturalizing them — fall once again to the ground," the FPM announced X.
"Lebanese authorities are called upon, before the Lebanese people, to put in place a clear plan to ensure the return of the displaced and to prevent the return to Lebanon of those who went to vote, instead of shirking their responsibilities, washing their hands of the matter, and contenting themselves with mere statements," the message concluded.
Party leader, Bassil, who has made the presence of Syrian refugees and migrants in Lebanon his trademark issue, also wrote: "When the displaced return to Syria to take part in the elections, it's further proof they should no longer stay here!" on X Monday.
"The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR] nevertheless continues to invite them to renew their residency permits as if nothing has changed!" he added.
The UNHCR has already organized three convoys of refugees returning to Syria since Assad's fall last December.
The spokesperson for the Lebanese branch of UNHCR, Lisa Abou Khaled, explained earlier this month to L’Orient-Le Jour that the U.N. agency had registered 114,000 applications for the voluntary return program, while at least 238,000 files had been delisted in Lebanon in 2025 after a verified or presumed return, "pending the September figures."
"The United States and Europe have announced repatriations, while our government is content to watch — worse still, it accepts to register their children in school without official papers! A powerless authority, while the risk of forced naturalization continues to grow!" Bassil concluded.
