BEIRUT: Labor Minister Sejaan Azzi said Monday that he did not mind contacting the Syrian regime in order to try to solve Lebanon’s Syrian refugee crisis, adding that the Lebanese Army should press ahead with its campaign against terrorism until it was finished completely.
“It would be naive to think we can solve the problem of Syrian refugees without the help of the Syrian regime,” Azzi, a Kataeb official, told The Daily Star in an interview. “But dealing with Damascus regarding refugees does not mean that we support the Syrian regime. This move serves the interests of Lebanon.”
“This is a normal thing as long as Lebanon has not expelled the Syrian ambassador and Damascus has not asked Lebanon’s envoy to leave and there are also regular contacts between Lebanese and Syrian intelligence,” Azzi said.
There are around 1.2 million registered Syrian refugees on Lebanese territories. The unofficial number is believed to be much higher. Their presence has presented Lebanon with a range of socioeconomic and security challenges.
However, Azzi said he believed that the Syrian regime did not want to resolve the problem of refugees, since it considered those who had fled the country to be supportive of the opposition.
As a member of a ministerial committee tasked with following up on the Syrian refugee crisis, Azzi said the clearest solution to the issue would be for them to return home. “But this is not possible now, given the fighting in Syria.”
In the meantime, Azzi added, measures should be taken to stop the flow of refugees into Lebanon, reduce the number of those already here and take full control of sites where they are present.
Azzi said a policy approved by the government last week served this purpose. He explained that the idea of establishing Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon was no longer an option, particularly after informal camps in Arsal were exposed as having been used as a base for militants to hide and store their weapons during clashes with the Army in August.
Azzi explained that Lebanon had begun suggesting to the international community that a buffer zone or protectorate inside Syria for refugee camps could be established.
“This was impossible to achieve in the previous period, but it has become possible now after the formation of an international coalition fighting terrorism,” the minister said, in reference to the international anti-ISIS coalition.
“This international coalition is launching airstrikes on Syrian territories and thus one of its first duties should be to secure an area inside Syria on the border with Lebanon where camps for all refugees can be established,” Azzi said.
“Of course this will not be implemented today or tomorrow, but the Lebanese state should start proposing it in a serious manner.”
Separately, Azzi said the Lebanese Army should continue its operations in the north until it totally eradicates any trace of terrorism there.
“It was as if the north was kidnapped recently, not only from Lebanon, but from its own people,” Azzi said. “People of the north, regardless of their sect, particularly Sunnis of Akkar and Tripoli, are honorable and moderate Lebanese who have nothing to do with extremist movements.”
The Army began a crackdown on Islamist militants in Tripoli and Akkar over the weekend and was able to take over their last bastion in Lebanon’s northern city Monday.
The fighting left 42 people dead and some 150 wounded.
Azzi said the military should take action without waiting for political cover from the government, saying that it already had it.
“The military is not in need of cover from any side, because its duty is to preserve security in any area in Lebanon and it is the duty of the state to support it in fulfilling its mission,” Azzi said.
Commenting on a visit Kataeb MP Sami Gemayel paid to Saudi Arabia earlier this month, Azzi said the trip aimed at holding talks with the Saudi leadership.
“The presidential deadlock was a topic in the discussions given that the kingdom has influence on sisterly states in the region and due to the fact that it was never late in playing a positive role that will lead to electing a president,” Azzi explained.
Azzi denied that discussions tackled an imminent second extension of Parliament’s term and reiterated his party’s opposition to such a move.
“We have a stance in principle, which is that under a democratic system, the transition of power is essential and it takes place through elections,” Azzi explained.
“That’s why we can never accept the extension of Parliament’s term or vacuum in the presidency,” the minister said, stressing that that Kataeb’s position would not change.
Azzi said the Kataeb Party understood rationales presented by political parties, including its allies, for extension, but added, “our stance will remain different from theirs.”
He said there were no indicators that a president would be elected soon to end five months of vacuum in the top Christian post.
“If we want to wait for developments in the Middle East to facilitate the holding of a presidential election, then these changes are unlikely to happen soon,” Azzi said. “And if they happen, they will not necessarily help in electing a president because events are heading toward instability rather than stability.”
“This requires that Lebanese leaders, if they still have a grain of responsibility and national conscience, forget their external affiliations ... and head to Parliament to elect a president.”
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