In recent weeks, Lebanon has witnessed a resurgence of anti-refugee sentiments culminating in ad-hoc deportations of Syrian refugees back to Syria. While the current refugee-hostile climate is fueled by an ever-worsening economic crisis, devaluation of the local currency, institutional collapse, and presidential deadlock, the security response to Syrian refugees is anything but new.
Syrians in Lebanon have always been the scapegoats of a dysfunctional socio-economic system that feeds on labor informality and institutional illegality. The Lebanese Armed Forces claim to be deporting only the “illegal” Syrians, in other words, those who are either unregistered as refugees or those who do not hold valid residency and work permits. However, the grounds on which these deportations are being orchestrated are contradictory or even counter-legal since Lebanon has never recognized refugee status in the first place. It is also important to mention that, since 2015, the government has prevented the UNHCR from continuing to register refugees while the process of residency and work permit renewals is made almost impossible.
These obstacles effectively unveil the inconsistencies of the “refugee versus migrant” categorization. Furthermore, the strategic “no-policy-policy” adopted by the Lebanese government in the early phase of the conflict was coupled with a pledge to keep its borders with Syria open. Thus, the later attempts of refugee movement containment came too late given a range of factors including the historical permeability of the Lebanese border specifically in respect to Syrians, the political divisions among opponents and allies of the Assad regime in Lebanon, and Hezbollah’s participation in the war in Syria.
The political alignment of the Lebanese General Security with Hezbollah, which clearly preserves the Syrian regime’s interests in Lebanon, contributes to the reproduction of a security and terror regime targeting opponents including anti-Assad Syrian refugees. A report published by Amnesty International in 2021 titled “I Wished I Would Die” noted cases of arbitrary detention of Syrian refugees, under the pretext of terrorism. Similarly, human rights groups have denounced the arbitrary and involuntary deportations of Syrians that have been taking place since last April, as forced Syrian returnees are reportedly being detained and ill-treated by the Syrian military and security forces.
In previous years, Lebanese politicians have used Syrian refugees to make significant pledges during donor conferences. However, shrinking in funding was coupled with a shift in discourse around refugees from one that is donor-attractive to one that questionably conditions stability with return to Syria. At the same time, negotiations between the Assad regime and Arab states have led to Syria’s re-entry to the Arab League, with reconstruction plans and potential GCC funding topping the discussions. The deportation of Syrian refugees needs to be considered in light of this very complex geopolitical climate as well as the internal struggles between Lebanese opponents and allies to the Assad regime.
Ultimately, the recent refugee deportation campaign cannot be effective or legally persuasive considering the peculiar nature of relations between Lebanon and Syria, and the inconsistencies characterizing the response to refugees for almost twelve years. More importantly, this coercive campaign poses severe threats to an already-struggling local economy that is heavily reliant on a commodified Syrian labor force.
As Syrians reduce their movements in fear of being detained and forcefully returned to Syria, Lebanese businesses have a heavy price to pay. Although the outcome of negotiations between Al-Assad and neighboring countries remains uncertain, what is sure is that the failure to regard the Syrian “refugee issue” in Lebanon as a “labor issue” contributes to feeding a securitized discourse that only exacerbates anti-refugee tension and socio-economic instability while further alienating Lebanon from the regional map.
Jessy Nassar holds a PhD in Anthropology of Development from King’s College London. Her research focuses on the political economy of forced labor displacement and the intersections between forced displacement, labor migration, and seasonality.
