Hezbollah leader urges Lebanon to send Syrian refugees to EU
The leader of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, Hasan Nasrallah, today asked Lebanon to allow boats with Syrian refugees to leave the country's coast for Europe, amid controversy over funding announced by the European Union (EU).
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On May 2, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced, during a visit to Beirut, a package of EU aid to Lebanon worth one billion euros until 2027, an amount to be distributed through various development projects.
Von der Leyen explained that part of the money will be dedicated to the management of 1.5 million Syrian refugees, an announcement that came amid a sharp increase in the number of boats with Syrians arriving on the Cypriot coast from Lebanon.
Some political blocs interpreted the EU aid as a kind of bribe to stop the flow of refugees to Europe, with the Lebanese parliament having a session scheduled for Wednesday to debate the financial package.
"When we are our own masters, and not slaves, and we possess the elements of power, we will be able to impose our conditions on the enemy," added the Hezbollah leader during his speech.
Nasrallah considered that the solution to the Syrian refugee crisis involves lifting the international sanctions that weigh on Damascus, which would allow the impoverished and war-torn nation to recover from its situation "in a matter of years".
Although after thirteen years of war the battlefronts are practically frozen in Syria, many non-governmental organizations and members of the international community consider that the return of refugees is not safe, due, in part, to the reprisals that the Damascus regime may exercise against those who left the country.
Many countries and blocs, including the EU, do not maintain relations with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a prominent ally of Hezbollah, which the United States and Brussels classify as a terrorist movement.
In the same speech, Hasan Nasrallah raised the possibility of the Israeli population returning to the northern cities of their country, along the border with Lebanon, if Tel Aviv's military offensive in the Gaza Strip against the Palestinian group Hamas, its ally, ceases.
"Tell your [Israeli] government to stop the aggression against Gaza if you want to return to the north," said Nasrallah, referring to the almost daily exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah, on the border with Lebanon, since the beginning of the war in the Palestinian territory, on October 7.
The Hezbollah leader stated that "the Americans informed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that there is no solution in the north without a ceasefire in Gaza".
At a strategic level, he believes that "Israel is at a dead end", in which it must decide whether to accept a ceasefire and thus recognize its defeat or continue with the offensive and follow "into the abyss".
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