According to reports, Nasrallah made the comments after the European Union had promised $1 billion in aid for Lebanon, money that is supposed to prevent illegal migration from the country. In essence, the EU is doing what it did with Turkey: trying to pay a foreign country to keep refugees from leaving toward Europe.
European countries have done the same in North Africa with varying degrees of success. What these deals generally mean is that migrants face abuses and restrictions. In this case, it appears that Hezbollah is trying to exploit the crisis by calling for Lebanon to basically encourage Syrians to leave via a dangerous maritime route. This could then result in a crisis that would lead to more funding for the country, which Hezbollah apparently could then divert for its own needs.
There are up to two million Syrians in Lebanon, according to reports. Around 785,000 are registered with the UN as refugees; the others are apparently undocumented, which can easily lead to abuses.
Nasrallah said in a televised May 13 speech that there should be “a national decision that says: we have opened the sea… whoever wants to leave for Europe, for Cyprus, the sea is in front of you. Take a boat and board it.” The speech was on Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television. “We do not propose forcing displaced Syrians to board boats and leave for Cyprus and Europe.” This seems like a thinly veiled threat.
The Hezbollah leader appears to be saying that Lebanon should encourage Syrians to leave via the sea, a dangerous precedent because it would essentially mean opening the border, rather than requiring people to leave legally. This would create chaos. Nasrallah said in his speech that this would actually help Syrians, who usually resort to being smuggled out of Lebanon by boat. READ MORE
