BEIRUT: Lebanon has rejected suggestions that refugees from the Syrian conflict could be permanently resettled there.
The Lebanese constitution said the country was “one for all Lebanese; and there will be no classification of people or land and there will be no settlements,” the parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri said. “The Parliament has already rejected resettlement calls several times before,” and “amending the constitution is out of question.”
Lebanon currently hosts more than 1.5 million displaced Syrians and 450,000 Palestinian refugees, earning the gratitude of US President Donald Trump in his speech to the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.
“We especially thank Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon for their role in hosting refugees from the Syrian conflict,” Trump said. But he continued: “We support recent agreements of the G-20 nations that will seek to host refugees as close to their home countries as possible. This is the safe, responsible and humanitarian approach.”
His remarks were viewed as suggesting that Syrian refugees could resettle permanently in Lebanon, but Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said: “No one is talking about resettlement in Lebanon; we have our constitution and our sovereignty.
“What was said at the United Nations represents a political idea and does not compel anyone to comply. There is no international resolution about this matter and there won’t be any binding resolution that would oblige us to naturalize Syrian refugees or others. There is no need for all this over-emphasis on the subject.”
Former Lebanese President Michel Sleiman called for “a plan to ensure the safe return of displaced Syrians to their country, especially now that the Syrian barrens are safe and calm.
“The Lebanese consensus is the strongest weapon for facing any fait accompli. This consensus must be upheld to ensure the safe return of Syrians to their homes.”
Lebanon’s Justice Minister Salim Jreissati said: “There will be no resettlement of any displaced person in Lebanon.” He called on “other countries to take the position that is appropriate to their sovereignty.”
Samir Al-Jisr, an MP from Al-Mustaqbal bloc, said: “Lebanon is involved in the solution for Syria and any new move will have repercussions on Lebanon; we should keep Lebanon as far as possible out of regional problems.
“There should be new solutions for displaced Syrians without burdening Lebanon on economic, social and political levels. Those who call for the normalization of relations between the Syrian and Lebanese governments in order to find a proper solution for the return of the displaced do not really want them to return to Syria.
“We cannot afford to send them to specific areas and exclude other areas due to demographic issues in Syria. The Lebanese government does not prevent anyone from returning to Syria; hundreds have already left Lebanon and returned to Syria.”
Lebanon rejects calls to resettle Syrian refugees
Lebanon rejects calls to resettle Syrian refugees
Death toll in Iran protests rises to more than 500, rights group says
- Protests began on December 28 in response to soaring prices, before turning against the clerical rulers who have governed since the 1979 Islamic Revolution
DUBAI/JERUSALEM: Unrest in Iran has killed more than 500 people, a rights group said on Sunday, as Tehran threatened to target US military bases if President Donald Trump carries out threats to intervene on behalf of protesters.
With the Islamic Republic’s clerical establishment facing the biggest demonstrations since 2022, Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene if force is used on protesters.
According to its latest spreadsheet — based on activists inside and outside Iran, US-based rights group HRANA said it had verified the deaths of 490 protesters and 48 security personnel, with more than 10,600 people arrested.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the tolls.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, speaking in parliament on Sunday, warned the United States against “a miscalculation.”
“Let us be clear: in the case of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories (Israel) as well as all US bases and ships will be our legitimate target,” said Qalibaf, a former commander in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.
Authorities intensify crackdown
The protests began on December 28 in response to soaring prices, before turning against the clerical rulers who have governed since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Authorities accuse the US and Israel of fomenting unrest. Iran’s police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan said security forces had stepped up efforts to confront “rioters.”
The flow of information from Iran has been hampered by an Internet blackout since Thursday.
Footage posted on social media on Saturday from Tehran showed large crowds marching along a street at night, clapping and chanting. The crowd “has no end nor beginning,” a man is heard saying.
In footage from the northeastern city of Mashhad, smoke can be seen billowing into the night sky from fires in the street, masked protesters, and a road strewn with debris, another video posted on Saturday showed. Explosions could be heard.
Reuters verified the locations.
State TV aired footage of dozens of body bags on the ground at the Tehran coroner’s office on Sunday, saying the dead were victims of events caused by “armed terrorists.”
Three Israeli sources, who were present for Israeli security consultations over the weekend, said Israel was on a high-alert footing for the possibility of any US intervention.
An Israeli military official said the protests were an internal Iranian matter, but Israel’s military was monitoring developments and was ready to respond “with power if need be.” An Israeli government spokesperson declined to comment.
Israel and Iran fought a 12-day war in June last year, which the United States briefly joined by attacking key nuclear installations. Iran retaliated by firing missiles at Israel and an American air base in Qatar.
US ready to help, says Trump
Trump, posting on social media on Saturday, said: “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!“
In a phone call on Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the possibility of US intervention in Iran, according to an Israeli source present for the conversation.
Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah and a prominent voice in the fragmented opposition, said Trump had observed Iranians’ “indescribable bravery.” “Do not abandon the streets,” Pahlavi, who is based in the US, wrote on X.
Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a Paris-based Iranian opposition group, wrote on X that people in Iran had “asserted control of public spaces and reshaped Iran’s political landscape.”
Her group, also known as Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK), joined the 1979 revolution but later broke from the ruling clerics and fought them during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
Netanyahu, speaking during a cabinet meeting, said Israel was closely monitoring developments. “We all hope that the Persian nation will soon be freed from the yoke of tyranny,” he said.
