The European Commission has promised Lebanon financial aid totalling around €1 billion ($1.07 billion) in order to stop the flow into the European Union of refugees from Syria currently living there.
"We are here first and foremost to say that the European Union strongly supports Lebanon and its people and we want to reinforce our longstanding cooperation," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in Beirut on Thursday, following talks with acting Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.
"To underline our support, I can announce a financial package of €1 billion for Lebanon that would be available from this year until 2027."
The package aims to strengthen Lebanon's basic services including education, social protection, and health. The package will also support the Lebanese armed forces, mainly to provide equipment and training, and infrastructure for border management.
Beirut appreciates the European Union's help "in supporting the military and security institutions in Lebanon to enable them to control the maritime and land borders and carry out their duties in preventing illegal immigration to and from Lebanon, and to support Lebanese communities in need," Mikati said.
Syrians from Lebanon, which is some 160 kilometres from Cyprus, have been arriving almost daily by boat in the EU island republic in recent months. Around 4,000 migrants have already been counted since the beginning of the year, compared to just 78 in the first quarter of the previous year, according to Christodoulides.
In absolute numbers, this is significantly fewer than in Italy, Spain and Greece, for example, where boat refugees from countries such as Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Morocco and Turkey arrive. But in relation to its population, nowhere else in the EU receives as many asylum applications as Cyprus, whose refugee camps are overcrowded.
Christodoulides and von der Leyen planned later to meet Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri, a close ally of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement.
The Cypriot president had visited Lebanon on April 8 accompanied by his country's interior and foreign ministers and army chief, shortly after he urged the EU to intervene with Lebanese authorities to stop Syrian refugees from heading to Cyprus from Lebanon.
Lebanon, struggling amid deep economic crisis since 2019, hosts some 805,000 UN-registered Syrian refugees, of whom 90% live in poverty, according to the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR. Lebanese officials estimate say that the actual number is far higher, ranging between 1.5 and 2 million.
"We are not in a position to take in any more Syrian refugees," said Christodoulides.
The boats, which usually leave from areas in the Lebanese coastal city of Tripoli, bring mainly Syrian refugees fleeing their war-torn country who have lived in camps across Lebanon since the Syrian uprising started in 2011.
Nicosia has lobbied for months to extend aid to Lebanon similar to deals the EU has done with Turkey, Tunisia, and more recently, Egypt. Those deals have provided billions in exchange for keeping migrants out of the EU.
But Lebanon is different, critics say.
Unlike the authoritarian states of Tunisia and Egypt, Lebanon does not even have a head of state. Electing a president proved impossible for a year and a half due to power struggles among the political elite.
The country is currently led by Mikati but the government is only able to act to a limited extent.
“The EU is making a big mistake in Lebanon,” said Riad Kahwaji, director of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, citing the country's long history of internal problems, driven by sectarian conflicts, which are causing the power vacuum.
Lebanon is in no way prepared to be a receiving country for refugees, he said, arguing the same politicians receiving money from the EU would demand the Syrians be thrown out of the country.
“It is crazy to see that Europeans believe in the illusion that the Lebanese authorities are able to stem the flow of refugees.”
Human rights activists say Lebanese officials have been discriminatory against Syrians for years, trying to force them to return to Syria or leave Lebanon, pointing to the devastating economic crisis.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that in recent months, Lebanese authorities have arbitrarily arrested, tortured and sent Syrians - including opposition activists and army defectors - back to Syria.
Some Lebanese politicians however say the civil war-torn country is safe enough to guarantee a return. The United Nations and other human rights organizations meanwhile say international observers are needed to return Syrians safely back to Syria.
"We wish to stress that our primary concern remains with those most vulnerable, who need protection. It is our duty as UNHCR to ensure their safety and dignity, while we strive for durable solutions, including resettlement to third countries," said UNHCR spokeswoman Lisa Abu Khaled.
Preliminary findings of the 2023 Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon (VaSyR) indicate that the vast majority of Syrian refugee households still face high levels of vulnerability to a wide array of shocks.
"Nine out of 10 Syrian refugees are still in need of assistance to meet their most basic needs," Abu Khaled said.