Syrian Armed Groups Among Those Displaced in Lebanon
Hundreds of thousands of Syrians are reportedly in Lebanon, and their presence is having a destabilizing effect on the country, writes Jean Aziz.
Over the past few weeks, there has been a sharp debate regarding the Syrians who have been displaced to Lebanon. That is in addition to the many quarrels between the Lebanese government and the opposition. However, both sides did agree on the humanitarian aspect of this tragic situation as well as on the international human rights standards in dealing with similar situations, especially with regard to assistance and relief to the victims and civilians.
Despite that, many inside and outside the Lebanese government have expressed some reservations about the issue and have cited several reasons to be cautious when dealing with the displaced.
Why is that? The first reason is related to Lebanon’s natural and human features. Compared to Syria’s other neighbors, Lebanon has a small surface area and a large population density. As of this writing, official figures by international agencies involved with the displaced Syrians indicate that there may be about 180,000 of them in Lebanon. The Syrian opposition and Lebanese officials say that the actual number is larger. But even the official figure should alarm the government.
For the sake of comparison, what if the United States, whose population is 68 times that of Lebanon, was forced to receive more than 13 million refugees within a few weeks? And if we do a geographic comparison, what if the United States, which is 900 times the size of Lebanon, was forced to receive more than 150 million people within the same period while its national debt was more than $23 trillion dollars? (The US GDP is 425 times that of Lebanon.)
