For the first time since colonial powers carved Syria and Lebanon into separate countries, Syrians will soon need visas to enter Lebanon.
The proposed visa restrictions are the latest and most significant in a series of new measures by Syria’s neighbours to try to control an overwhelming flow of refugees that appears unlikely to end any time soon.
More than 3 million Syrians have fled their country during nearly four years of war - with more than 1.1 million seeking refuge in Lebanon alone - creating an enduring humanitarian, economic and political crisis that has put extraordinary pressure on Syria's neighbours, especially Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan.
With no political settlement in sight that would allow the bulk of refugees to return home, neighbouring countries are recasting their policies to recognize the long-term nature of the challenge.
Turkey has moved to better integrate the more than 1 million Syrians it is hosting, granting access to education and social services. But Lebanon and Jordan are moving in the opposite direction, making it harder for Syrians to enter and more difficult for them to work and receive services once they arrive.
Lebanon's announcement, which was a New Year's Eve surprise to Syrians preparing to bid good riddance to a year that was perhaps the deadliest in the war, comes at a time when the United Nations says there are more refugees worldwide than at any time since World War II.
“Across the region, there are various measures being taken by host governments that are restrictive on refugees,” said Ron Redmond, a senior spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. “We understand the reasons they cite for doing this, but at the same time our job is to ensure the refugees aren’t pushed back to someplace where they may be in danger.”
In Lebanon, a country of just 4 million citizens, in addition to the 1.1 million refugees registered with the United Nations there are an estimated 500,000 who are unregistered. (More than 7 million have been internally displaced in Syria.) The visa requirement is scheduled to begin Monday, according to rules published by country’s General Security Agency, which handles border controls and residency permits.
The new rule is a stark symbol of new divisions in the region, given the deep historical ties between the two countries. But it also is an indication of the weakened position of Syria, a country that long influenced Lebanon, sending in troops during its smaller neighbour’s civil war in 1976 and going on to politically dominate the country, maintaining tens of thousands of troops there until 2005.
Syria still requires no visa for Lebanese citizens, a vestige of what was once a no-visa regimen among the Arab countries. Some of those countries have erected new entry barriers for one another’s citizens in recent years as conflict has spread, introducing new economic, sectarian and political strains.
The measure will have an immediate impact on Syrians, for whom Lebanon is the most popular escape route. Not counting border procedures, Beirut is just a two-hour drive from Damascus, the capital of Syria, along a route still controlled by the government and relatively secure.
In recent months, Lebanon has turned back a growing number of Syrians at the border, on a relatively ad hoc basis, but refugees have still trickled through. Some Syrians cross illegally along porous borders in the mountains, but a large majority of refugees have entered at official crossing points, the United Nations says.
Mr Redmond said the UN refugee agency was studying the measure to learn whether it affected the 1 million officially registered refugees already in the country. But he added that a gradual tightening of entry requirements had already had a marked effect.
The number of officially registered arrivals in Lebanon in November was down 75 per cent from the summer, suggesting that many people were either turned away or did not attempt to cross because they had heard of the new restrictions.
The visa announcement caused immediate consternation among those not registered. Some are middle-class professionals who do not consider themselves in need of refugee benefits and have relied on what up to now was an automatically granted six-month residency permit that could be renewed. Others arrived illegally and have not registered because they fear the authorities.
The new measure says Syrians must apply for one of several types of visas: such as student, business and transit, but refugee was not listed among them. Another route is to be sponsored by a Lebanese citizen.
The Lebanese authorities have also begun to crack down on expired residency permits, anecdotal evidence suggests. There is political tension in Lebanon over the refugees, who are straining schools and hospitals, camping in farm fields and, because they are overwhelmingly Sunnis, threaten to upset the country’s sectarian balance if they stay permanently.
New York Times