BEIRUT (AP) – Tens of thousands of Syrian refugees are expected to stay in Lebanon’s eastern border region for the near future, as a multilateral effort to resettle several thousand of them ran into further delays on Tuesday.
Some 9,000 Syrian refugees and gunmen were waiting to leave Lebanon’s Arsal region to a jihadist-dominated corner of Syria in accordance with an agreement between Lebanon, Syria, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and a Syrian affiliate to al-Qaida.
But tens of thousands of others still have no plans to leave, for fear of finding war, hardship, and oppressive militant rule waiting for them in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, said Khaled Raad, a member of the Arsal Refugees’ Coordination Committee of the Lebanese government.
Many Syrians have calculated it is better to stay in Lebanon, despite the sweeping restrictions on movement and employment in the tiny Mediterranean country, he said.
“There are people who say Idlib is going to become a second Mosul, and I would rather stay in Lebanon and go to prison than move there,” said Raad.