On May 31, Lebanese Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk issued a decision to revoke the “displaced” status of all Syrian citizens registered as such in Lebanon if they return to the Syrian territories, effective June 1. This decision seems rational if one ignores the known political alignments of the region. However, in light of the divisions among Lebanese over the war in Syria, it seems that this decision has other, more complicated dimensions, which will likely deteriorate the situation of displaced Syrians in Lebanon.

The decision affects the nearly 1.1 million Syrian citizens registered as refugees on the lists of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Beirut. Losing the displaced status will deprive Syrians in Lebanon of UNHCR aid. According to official sources who spoke to Al-Monitor, 600,000 people, more than 80% of them Syrians, have been crossing the border between Syria and Lebanon per month. The same sources estimated that a large part of these Syrians who cross the border regularly are registered as refugees in Lebanon.

Social Affairs Minister Rachid Derbas asserted the purely regulatory nature and background of this latest governmental decision. He told Al-Monitor that the decision had been under consideration since the Ministerial Coordination Meeting of Major Host Countries for Syrian Refugees in early May in the Jordanian capital. On the sidelines of the meeting, the Lebanese officials found that the Jordanian authorities, in cooperation with the UNHCR, are implementing a similar procedure to manage displacement and secure the greatest amount of aid for those who need it.

Derbas stressed that after it was decided to implement this procedure in Lebanon, preparations were carried out to begin implementation with the next session of the meeting of the countries neighboring Syria, which will be held in Beirut in mid-June 2014. There is nothing strange or suspicious about the interior minister’s move, according to Derbas.