Tag: Lebanon

First 50 Syrian families head home to safe zone in Syria….

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

….And, it has nothing to do with any Trump Administration plans.  Other actors have stepped in to begin to make it happen and as the story tells us, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees had no comment.
Before critics jump in, it should be none of our business if these families want to put their lives in the hands of Hezbollah, it is not our role (or the UN’s!) to play the papa and tell them where to live and what to do with their lives (which is a large part of the psychology that drives refugee resettlement—the ‘we know what’s good for you’ mentality!).
From Lebanon’s Daily Star (hat tip: Joanne)

BEIRUT: Dozens of refugee families returned to Aasal al-Ward in southern Syria after leaving the Lebanese border town of Arsal over the weekend as part of a deal brokered by Hezbollah and Syrian rebel factions.

Photo accompanying Daily Star story.

The Lebanese Army said in a statement that 30 civilian vehicles carrying an estimated 50 families departed from the northern Lebanese town in the early hours of Saturday and a military escort accompanied them until the last military checkpoint.

According to the Army statement, the move was undertaken in response to a “keen interest of the families” to return to their homeland. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV circulated a video Sunday depicting the Syrian families celebrating their return to their hometown.

Local media estimated that 50 families chose to leave Lebanon for Syria Saturday. A total of 500 families are expected to relocate following negotiations earlier this year to establish small safe zones for civilians in the Qalamoun region, brokered by Hezbollah.

A security source in the town of Arsal told The Daily Star Saturday that the return of dozens of displaced families was the result of behind-the-scenes negotiations between Hezbollah and the Syrian regime on one hand, and armed factions present in the area on the other.

[….]

The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, had no comment when contacted Sunday evening.

There is more, but you may have to subscribe to get it.
Truth be told, most ‘refugees’ just want to go home and that should be our number one goal—to get them there—not move them around the world like pieces on a chessboard.

Silly season in Mexico as the country considers ‘welcoming’ Syrian refugees

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous!

José Antonio Meade, Mexico’s Secretary of External Relations: Sure, we might take some Syrians from Lebanon! (This must be a joke!)

As Mexico happily unloads its poor on America and allows Central Americans easy passage through Mexico so they too can ‘benefit’ from US generosity, the government of Mexico is considering becoming a recipient of impoverished Syrian refugees (and most will be Muslims).

They think they might like to follow in Uruguay’s footsteps (we already know the Uruguay experiment is failing, see here).

From Newshub.org:

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – After a high-level meeting between the representatives of Mexico and Lebanon, the world’s largest Spanish-speaking country could follow in the footsteps of fellow Latin American nation Uruguay by accepting Syrians fleeing from the unrest in their homeland from overburdened refugee camps in Lebanon.

The Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Gebran Bassil, was in Mexico City for a meeting with his Mexican counterpart, José Antonio Meade, to “solidify political dialogue at the highest level” and “strengthen the ties of friendship and cooperation” that unite the two countries.

[….]

Meade acknowledged that the impact this sort of encumbrance has on a nation is “huge,” both in terms of the economy and society as a whole. Lebanon should be noted and praised for its “generosity, dedication and international commitment to this massive humanitarian issues.”

Secondly, the Middle Eastern country should be lauded for its “expressions of support for any measure of help that becomes available from any point of view,” according to Meade, who then added that “Mexico is open to the reception of refugees.”

[….]

If Mexico does go ahead with the acceptance of Syrian refugees, it would make it the second Latin American nation to officially do so after Uruguay.

Gee, maybe Mexico has better security screening than the US does?  Nah!

And, if they have the resources for Syrian refugees, why didn’t they take care of all those ‘Unaccompanied alien children’ (the so-called refugees) who passed through Mexico last summer?

Lebanese retaliate against Syrian refugees as Syrian Sunnis behead another Lebanese soldier

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This story is all over the news in the last few days so I thought I better post on it.   Lebanon has shouldered a large percentage of the burden of caring for Syrians (mostly Sunni Muslims) fleeing violence in Syria, but now as Syrian rebels (ISIS) captures Lebanese soldiers and police (reportedly beheading two), the Lebanese people are retaliating.

Of course nothing here should be considered to be a reason that the West is thus required to take in the various Muslim religious sects bringing centuries-old sectarian squabbles to your neighborhood.

This is an outdated map, but it gives you an idea. Take note that Saudi Arabia takes no refugees.

From Yahoo News:

Baalbek (Lebanon) (AFP) – The kidnap and murder of Lebanese security forces by jihadists from Syria has sparked new tensions in Lebanon, including a backlash against Syrian refugees and a string of sectarian kidnappings.

Relatives of the missing soliders and policemen, who were kidnapped during fierce clashes in the Lebanese border town of Arsal last month, have blocked roads in protest and even carried out counter-kidnaps.

[….]

The hostage crisis and beheadings have inflamed tensions in Lebanon, which is hosting more than 1.1 million Syrian refugees, and where tensions were already soaring over the four-year conflict in Syria.

The crisis has prompted a backlash against Syrian refugees in parts of Lebanon, with tents in informal camps being set alight and hundreds of Syrians sheltered in the Bekaa valley fleeing for fear of attack.

The Syrian conflict has exacerbated existing sectarian tensions in Lebanon, where most Sunni residents back the Syrian uprising and Shiites generally support Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.

Read it all.

Endnote:  Our post of late last week about the UN picking Syrian refugees for resettlement in America has gone ballistic on the internet.

The US will take thousands of Syrians this coming year unless citizens rise up in mass against the State Department’s soon-to-be-announced plan, but resettling even 15,000 now will make no dent in solving Syria’s or Lebanon’s problems!

See also Judy’s post yesterday—utter disaster.

Update:  British charity Oxfam says rich countries must take 5% of the 3 million Syrian refugees this year.  That comes to 179,500.  But, what strikes me as so interesting is that in articles like this one they never mention the US as among those nations.  Why is that?

Australia is raising fresh Jihadists in its immigrant/refugee population too!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday we reported that Jihadists are continuing to recruit in the Somali refugee neighborhoods of Minneapolis.

In response, reader FatherJon from Australia brought a similar story to us from Down Under.  It is from late last year but well worth having a look at again now, especially as the American media may be on the cusp of ‘getting it’ about the Islamic imperative as the nightmare in Iraq continues to unfold.

One young “Australian” who joined the rebels in Syria.

The story is about Australian citizens (previously granted refuge there) going to join the rebels in Syria.

From the Sydney Morning Herald (I’ve taken snips not necessarily in order):

”They don’t consider themselves restricted to a particular country; they see themselves as part of the global ummah [Islamic nation],” he ( University of Western Sydney’s Dr Jan Alisaid). ‘‘Islam brings them together, not Syria.”

[….]

Since the conflict began, about 100 Australians, mostly Lebanese-Australian dual citizens, have travelled to fight, and many more have become embroiled in sectarian violence at home.

Lebanon and Syria have a history of hostility but social media and the emergence of extremist groups in Sydney have led many young Australians to view it as a cause to die for.

[….]

The emergence of controversial and conservative Muslim groups in Sydney, such as Bankstown’s Al Risalah community centre, the pan-Islamic political organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir and the Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama’ah Association, which runs several mosques and the Bukhari House bookstore and prayer hall in Auburn, has created fear that young people are being indoctrinated.

Will they bring their new skills “home” to Australia?

Police have described Australians travelling to Syria as a ”game-changer” for national security because of the risk of bringing skills, knowledge and radicalised views back home.

The 100 believed to have fought in Syria far exceeds the highest estimates of Australian jihadists involved in previous overseas conflicts, Monash University terrorism researcher, Andrew Zammit, said.

Naive western governments and their NGO enablers offer them the “American Dream”  (or Australian Dream!) and what do they do, raise up young healthy warriors for Allah.

Since this article is nearly 6 months old, we can only hope that most of the 100 “Australian”  Jihadists are dead already.

LOL! At the moment I’m thinking of all the people, dissatisfied with America’s direction, who have said to me over the last few years—I’m going to escape to Australia!  Good luck with that!

Although I must say, Australia, Israel and Bulgaria are the three non-Muslim countries we have identified which are actively attempting to close their borders and save themselves from mostly Muslim invaders.  We have written 137 previous posts on Australia. Ambitious readers! click here, to view those reports.

 

Lebanon: Syrian refugee camps the best solution

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

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!

Syrian families arrive in Lebanon. http://www.unhcr.org/504dab686.html

 

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.