After Lebanon has experienced numerous political crises of different scale, officials of the country, finally, belatedly, came to, this time to meet with a new disaster that threatens the existence of Lebanon. This issue strikes at the demographic balance in the country, and there are no prospects of its solution. Some Lebanese politicians, it was not enough to remember the history of their country, to learn from the past, especially when you consider that the territory of Lebanon thanks to its strategic position became a “fertile ground” for the greedy invaders.
Returning to the distant and recent past, we can say that the migration of peoples, with the purpose of demographic conquest happened a long time ago. Nobody imagined that the Arab tribes, that the Umayyads brought specially for the siege of Lebanon, rebelled against their power and refused to pay the “jizya” in connection with the belonging of the locals to the Christian religion, will remain on this land forever.
On the other hand, Lebanon, which opened its doors to Palestinian refugees in view of the fact that they are oppressed brotherly Lebanese people and assuming that their presence and stay in Lebanon temporarily (especially because most of the Palestinians fled, taking the keys to their homes with the hope that tomorrow will return to your home country) paid the price of hospitality’s own prosperity. All this was the cause of the civil war, which lasted 15 years, destroying the country and killing its citizens, then “journey to Jerusalem began to pass through Jounieh”.
The reason for the divergent solutions to the problem of Syrian refugees is a split between those who demand to start talks with the Syrian regime and those who reject this initiative. Against this backdrop stands the progressive position of Russia. Answering the questions of the newspaper “al-jumhuriyah”, diplomatic sources in Moscow said that the Minister of foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov met with several Lebanese officials, the latest of which was the leader of the bloc “Democratic meeting” MP Walid Jumblatt, and expressed his country’s readiness to help solve this problem.
Lavrov said that the Russian side has planned a series of visits and initiatives on this issue. In particular, Russia has secured the return of large numbers of displaced persons in the Eastern part of Aleppo, as well as working together with the Syrian regime to legalize their status and thus ensure them a decent return. Thus, Russia has created a model that can be applied in the future. Consequently, Lebanon should take steps in this direction, and Moscow is ready to offer its assistance.
As emphasized by diplomatic sources, the Russian side has made efforts to solve the problem of refugees, particularly in Lebanon. Russian officials acknowledge that “reducing conflict” in Syria will lead to the creation of the safe areas, which will return the bulk of the displaced persons. Despite the fact that some believe that these zones will split Syria into pieces, Russia does not agree with this.
Sources indicate that Moscow is ready to continue cooperation with the Syrian regime to ensure the return of displaced persons. So, despite the fact that some Lebanese officials unwilling to cooperate with Damascus, the Russian leadership believes that the Lebanese make a mistake, because the game is on the Syrian field depends on the international balance of power, and there currently does not portend the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. So whether Lebanon to deal with the refugee crisis, while it is not known how long it will last?
As for the Russian-Lebanese cooperation, it should be noted the future visit of Prime Minister of Lebanon Saad Hariri to Moscow in September of this year. The parties intend to discuss the current problems in the region, and most of the talks will be devoted to the crisis around refugees. It’s also possible the parties will develop a plan for resolving the crisis, given that Russian officials expressed readiness for any actions in order to ensure security and stability in Lebanon. However, at the same time, they believe that Lebanon needs to find a political solution, which is impossible in view of internal political disputes.
Russian officials have confirmed that the contacts with the Lebanese government continues, and Russia is ready to support Lebanon on all issues. You need to take into account the fact that the President of Russia Vladimir Putin adheres to a policy of non-interference in the internal Affairs of Lebanon and does not support any of the Lebanese parties to the detriment of others, which demonstrates Moscow’s willingness to cooperate in all fields, particularly in the military. However, the economic crisis does not allow her to provide generous support to the Lebanese army and security services which they have received from Washington and London.
Moscow, probably, can serve as a “bridge” to resolve the crisis, however, this requires that the Lebanese side made a political decision concerning the return of refugees, while the UN has not made any contribution to the resolution of such problems, clear evidence of what is the situation around the Palestinian refugees. Everything she did, because it confirmed two days ago that the return of displaced persons to their homeland is voluntary, and this means that they have the right to decide to stay and live where they live now. But we must not forget that there are groups who do not want return of refugees to their country, perhaps because they want to benefit from the situation and use the refugees as human resource in their interests.
