As is the case with all of Syria’s neighbors, the migrants pouring out of Syria are straining the economies and stressing out the citizens of those countries. Now, some political leaders in Lebanon want formal camps built preferably in safe zones on the Syrian side of the border. It strikes me as a good idea too!
Supposedly millions of mostly Muslims have left Syria and frankly it is silly to think that sending a few thousand to western countries is going to do anything to relieve the strain. And, those who come here or to Europe, Australia or Canada will never go home.
The camp concept would also allow the Syrians to stay in their own cultural zone until the war is over and they can go home.
From the Daily Star:
BEIRUT: Establishing camps is the only way to solve the refugee crisis in Lebanon, Health Minister Wael Abu Faour said Monday, reiterating warnings that the influx of more refugees would have severe repercussions for the country.
“There is no solution to the continuous influx of refugees other than establishing refugee camps,” Abu Faour said during a conference about the economic repercussions of the Syrian refugee crisis.
“We’ve even decided on locations for such camps, but unfortunately, a number of political forces opposed this solution, arguing that [establishing camps] could destabilize the country’s security,” he said.
Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas said over the weekend that the government and the United Nations had been mulling the possibility of establishing camps for refugees. The Cabinet is currently pressuring the international community to build camps in “safe zones” inside Syria or along the borders.
The United Nations has already conducted a technical survey of areas across Lebanon that could be amenable to setting up “modest formal settlements,” and presented its findings to the Social Affairs Ministry for approval. However, the government maintains that formal camps, if established, should not be entrenched within Lebanese communities.
Let the camps be built inside the Syrian border and the UN can protect the people.
Meanwhile in Turkey…..
The Syrians are wearing out their welcome.
From Time:
Turkey was home to less than 200,000 Syrian refugees at the start of 2013, but the patience of many Turkish citizens is running thin as that figure hovers around 700,000. With no sign of the conflict in Syria abating, that number is expected to more than double this year.
Read on.
And, here we learn that Turkey is building a wall on the Syrian border.
Still no sign of the thousands of Syrians that US resettlement contractors like the US Conference of Catholic Bishops are lobbying for!
And, none of them are beating up Obama as they did Bush on admitting Iraqi refugees. Or, maybe they are behind the scenes and the lazy and biased mainstream media isn’t picking it up.