Lebanon is under pressure from everywhere, Nicosia is concerned – The new flows, Hezbollah and the two million refugees

4 comments

1. The Greek article translated to English:

   A domino of developments, where Cyprus is the last piece of the line, has been taking place in the last few days in the Middle East. As Israel prepares to respond with the same currency to the terrorist attacks of Hamas, a serious humanitarian crisis is developing, which may have temporary causes of war, but its causes are much deeper and we have experienced them all the previous months, but also years, with the jump in migration flows.

   Information published on Lebanese websites speaks of massive movements of refugees within the country’s territory. Specific persons who were in the South of the country, began to move further north, fearing an Israeli attack, in the many attacks by Hezbollah from the territory of Lebanon in recent days. It is estimated that the number of internally displaced persons in Lebanon exceeds 20 thousand.

   At the same time, the Lebanese media broadcast another news. On the other side of the country, on the border with Syria, i.e. the north, the army of the country prevented 800 Syrians who tried to enter the territory of Lebanon, apparently, not to live the experience of the war, but to move from there possibly with the help of smugglers to Europe. Given its prehistory, Cyprus is one of the first choices for people from Syria, who want to leave the hell they have been living in for almost a decade and seek a better future in the EU.

   It is also known that Lebanon, even before the start of the war in Gaza, was an endless camp for refugees from Syria. In particular, it is estimated that 2.5 million Syrians live in Lebanon, whose population is estimated to be close to 5.6 million. This is also the reason why the Minister of the Interior, Konstantinos Ioannou, suggested to his Lebanese counterpart that they proceed with a joint proposal to the European Commission to request funds in order to somewhat alleviate the situation for the neighboring country.

   If you look at the big picture, Lebanon in the south is currently under pressure due to the illegal action of Hezbollah by Israel, in the south it is under pressure from Syrian immigrants trying to enter the country, while at the same time being called upon to control the coastal borders of, so that Nicosia’s fears are not confirmed and new migration flows to Cyprus begin.

   After all, according to the Minister of the Interior, Konstantinos Ioannou, in the last few days, information has been continuously received from the immigrants who have already arrived in Cyprus, that there are Syrians gathered on the shores of Lebanon, who are either looking for ways, or preparing to sail to their destination Cyprus.

   In this context, the National Security Council met yesterday, which studied the data on Immigration and explicit instructions were given to the relevant agencies, in the first stage to prevent new massive waves of immigrants and secondly, if the fears are confirmed, all those involved should be on hand to deal with the situation.

   The immigration issue is also high on the priorities of the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulidis, who is leaving tomorrow for Brussels to participate in the European Council and is expected to present the facts before his counterparts, presenting another aspect arising from the crisis in the Middle East. The message that is expected to be sent by the President of the Republic is that Cyprus, as the country with the closest proximity to the Middle East, is called upon to raise a disproportionate state and in this context requests the assistance of its partners.

   It is recalled that last weekend the arrival of 264 migrants by boat from Lebanon was recorded and since Lebanon, due to the state of emergency and the multiple fronts it has to face, is unable to monitor its coastal borders, it is more than likely that the these numbers to increase rapidly in the next 24 hours. However, the dismantling of a migrant trafficking ring, after an operation mainly in Paphos, which was completed yesterday, may to some extent affect the ability of traffickers to move migrants to Cyprus.

2. I’m sure the government is handling it just as well as the last few years of asylum seeker crisis.

3. Good, I think Wolt has a worker shortage

4. Not one refugee from these broken countries should enter cyprus. The risk of jihadi terrorism is too high. Already had a handful of syrians trying to blow up jews.