(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, APRIL 21 - Dozens of Syrian refugees who had taken refuge in Lebanon for years because of the ongoing conflict in neighboring Syria have been forcibly repatriated by the Lebanese authorities.
This was reported by Beirut media citing Lebanese military intelligence sources.
In recent weeks, the army security services have arrested around 500 Syrian refugees without regular residence permits.
Of these, about fifty were forcibly repatriated to Syria, the sources say.
In Lebanon, which has a population of just under four million inhabitants, live about one million Syrian refugees, who have fled Syria since the outbreak of war in 2011.
Lebanese authorities say there are "2 million" Syrians in Lebanon.
The UN has registered about 830,000.
The returnees are not coordinated with the authorities in Damascus.
And several sources report that several repatriated Syrian refugees then return illegally to Lebanon via the porous border between the two countries.
Although the conflict in Syria has reduced in intensity, the country remains fragmented and marked by violence and the absence of prospects for a dignified life.
Due to Western sanctions and the currency crisis in neighboring Lebanon, Syria faces the worst economic crisis in decades.
Despite the Lebanese financial crisis, which became apparent in the autumn of 2019, Lebanon remains a less hostile place for Syrian refugees than the Syrian one.
And from the Lebanese coasts, the journeys of illegal Syrian, Palestinian and Lebanese migrants to Italy and European coasts have increased in recent months.
(ANSAmed).