On Wednesday, the Lebanese Army arrested 300 Syrian refugees in the border town of Arsal for not having the “Public Security Card” that allows them to be present on Lebanese territory, activists said.
The campaign took place in 25 camps.
Lebanese media claimed that the campaign was to arrest displaced people wanted by the authorities.
Arsal’s border camps are one of the largest along the Syrian border, with about 80,000 Syrian refugees living in 117 camps.
The conflict has displaced more than 5 million Syrians outside the country, the United Nations says, with more than half displaced to Turkey and most of the rest split between Lebanon and Jordan
Thousands of Syrians are unable to return, because their homes were destroyed in the fighting or because they fear military conscription or retribution by regime forces.
About 55,000 Syrian refugees have returned since July, according to the Lebanese Caretaker Minister of State for Refugee Affairs Mouin Merehbi, a number that contrasts with that announced by General Security, which put the number of returnees at almost 90,000 during the same period.
Syrian activists have voiced concern about the fate of the Syrian refugees returning from Lebanon after Merehbi claimed that 20 Syrian refugees who had returned from Lebanon to Syria had been killed by regime forces.
A survey made by Zaman al-Wasl on a random sample of 210 refugees in the camps of Arsal, showed that 92% of the refugees had refused to return, while 8% had agreed to return to the towns in the western Qalamoun, which they described as safe.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
