Lebanese security forces went door to door on Friday in the northern Lebanese villages of Btourram, in Koura district, and Hasroun, in Zgharta district, to confirm the evacuation of Syrian migrants residing there without documents.

In April, Lebanon’s caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi called on Lebanon’s eight governorates to ‘enumerate and register’ displaced Syrians as well as halt renting real estate or issuing documents to the unregistered refugees.

According to a security source and residents’ testimonies relayed by our correspondent in the north, security forces passed by the homes and dwellings of Syrian migrants to ensure their eviction was underway, following previous warnings sent to them by the municipality of the village.

Koura MPs Fadi Karam and George Atallah, North Lebanon’s mohafez (governor) Ramzi Nohra among others participated in the patrol.

In Hasroun, State Security issued eviction notices to Syrians residing there without proper documentation. According to our correspondent,
these people will be evicted and their houses will be sealed off with red wax if the deadline for legalizing their stay or leaving the village expires without implementation.

On Thursday, 70 Syrian nationals living in Kousba, Koura district, were expelled from their homes having not complied with an April 17 eviction notice issued by Nohra.

Anti-Syrian sentiment has increased within Lebanon since the murder in early April of Pascal Sleiman, a Lebanese Forces official, for which Syrian suspects were arrested. There are an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, the largest per capita ratio of refugees in any country in the world.

Since April, the Lebanese authorities have launched a series of measures to restrict the presence of Syrians in the country and have advocated for their deportation. In addition to being forcibly evicted from their homes, Syrians in Lebanon are faced with vigilante violence on the streets and the threat of being sent back to Syria, where, as international humanitarian org
anizations warn, people are often detained, kidnapped, or forced into the military.

Source: National News Agency – Lebanon