Lebanon and Cyprus cooperate to push back and expel Syrian refugees, but Syria cannot be considered a safe country

ROMA – The Lebanese Armed Forces and Cypriot authorities work together to prevent refugees from reaching Europe. The Syrians are then repatriated to Syria, where their lives are still in danger, he reports Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a newly released report, which documents the desperation of Syrians living in Lebanon.

Cooperation in pushbacks. The organization spoke to 16 refugees who attempted to leave Lebanon irregularly between August 2021 and September 2023. The researchers also reviewed and verified photographs and videos submitted directly by interviewees, accessed plane and boat tracking data, and submitted requests to study documents used by the European Union to fund Lebanon’s border control. “Lebanon violates the fundamental prohibition on returning a refugee when their life is at risk of persecution, while the European Union helps foot the bill,” said Nadia Hardman, a refugee and migrant rights researcher at HRW. “Cyprus, in turn, violates this prohibition by sending refugees back to Lebanon, where they then risk being deported to Syria,” she said.

The funding. The EU has given Lebanese security authorities up to €16.7 million from 2020 to 2023 for border management projects, the sole purpose of which is to enable Lebanon to curb irregular migration. In May 2024, Brussels awarded a €1 billion package to Beirut until 2027, which includes funding for the “Lebanese Armed Forces and other security forces for border management and to combat smuggling”. Cypriot authorities, meanwhile, have collectively expelled hundreds of Syrian asylum seekers without allowing them access to asylum procedures, forcing them onto boats that would take them directly back to Lebanon. Those expelled have said that Lebanese army officers then handed them over directly to Syrian soldiers and unidentified gunmen inside Syria.

The stories. A 44-year-old Syrian woman said the Cypriot coast guard intercepted the boat she and others were on, began pushing them back toward the starting point, and used a stun gun and a truncheon on her husband, who was injured. Once the boat returned to Lebanon, the army pushed everyone on board out of the port into a no-man’s land on the Syrian-Lebanese border, ordering them to run across. Syrian security forces then detained some of them for nine days. Once in Syria, the expelled refugees faced not only detention, but also the threat of extortion by armed men, who would smuggle them back to Lebanon in exchange for money.

Lebanon. It hosts the highest number of refugees per capita in the world, including 1.5 million Syrians, despite experiencing a series of social and economic crises so complex that they have deteriorated the quality of services and therefore the life of citizens. This is why many Syrians, who after many years often still live in makeshift refugee camps, are trying to leave the country to reach Europe. Meanwhile, the Lebanese authorities – writes HRW – who control the entry of foreigners, report having arrested or repatriated 821 Syrians who were trying to leave Lebanon by boat, irregularly, between January 1, 2022 and August 1, 2024.

Cipro. Refugees fleeing Lebanon whose boats managed to reach Cypriot waters, however, reported that the Cyprus Coast Guard used dangerous maneuvering tactics to intercept and push them back. In some cases, they were left adrift, at night, without food, water, or assistance. Unaccompanied minors are treated the same way. One 15-year-old boy in Cypriot waters was handcuffed and taken directly to the port of Beirut, HRW reports. The Lebanese army then expelled him and a group of other Syrians through the Masnaa crossing on the border with Syria.

The laws. These summary expulsions violate Lebanon’s obligations as a party to the UN Convention against Torture and violate the customary principle of non-refoulement in international law, which prevents the forcible return of people to countries where they face the risk of torture or persecution. Cyprus’s pushbacks also amount to collective expulsions prohibited by the European Convention on Human Rights and infringe the prohibition of indirect, chain or secondary refoulement. TheUNHCRthe UN agency responsible for providing international protection and humanitarian assistance to refugees, argues that Syria is not a safe place for returns. “The EU has long rewarded Lebanon for preventing migrants from reaching Europe with migration management projects,” Hardman says. “Instead of externalising abuses, Europe should establish direct and independent mechanisms to monitor the respect for human rights in Lebanese border control operations.”