FPM welcomes $80M in European aid to support Syria's displaced

BEIRUT — The Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) parliamentary bloc welcomed the European Union’s announcement Wednesday of an $80 million fund aimed at supporting the return of displaced Syrians through cash assistance, calling it a fulfillment of one of the bloc’s key demands.

The statement added: “All international donors should adopt the same policy in order to encourage the return of these displaced people, instead of favoring their continued presence in Lebanon. We also reiterate our demand to the Lebanese state to deport Syrian residents in Lebanon without legal papers.”

Lebanon has hosted hundreds of thousands of displaced Syrians fleeing war and abuses in their country since 2011: according to state estimates, the number is 1.5 million, while other estimates put it at around 2 million.

They had been receiving assistance from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) until recently. The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria in December 2024 changed the situatio, thousands of refugees and migrants returned, but many are still hesitant due to the extent of destruction in Syria and the catastrophic economic situation there.

The FPM, like many other parties in Lebanon, says that the presence of such a number of refugees in a small country like Lebanon poses a demographic threat, and calls for their return home and for international aid to be transferred to Syria.

On another note, the FPM bloc announced its decision to submit a proposal to amend Article 108 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, to make it illegal to extend pretrial detention for more than two years in cases classified under the anti-terrorism law.

Hundreds of detainees, including Islamists, have languished for years in Lebanese prisons without trial. According to the FPM, “a pretrial detention period of more than two years is considered a violation of fair detention principles; this amendment will require the investigating judge or the competent court to refer the files of these detainees for trial and a decision as to whether [or not] to keep the person in detention.”

Finally, the FPM bloc denounced “police practices” of prosecuting internet users active on social networks, condemning the fact that “they are summoned and forced to sign pledges preventing them from expressing their political opinions.”

The statement did not specify which internet users were concerned and failed to note that these practices are not new.