The war in the Middle East will not unleash a migrant wave, but something much more terrible. Atanas Rusev, director of the “Security” program at the Center for the Study of Democracy (CID), would be alarmed in the program “In Development” on Bloomberg TV Bulgaria.
The immediate risk for Europe and Bulgaria in particular from the conflict in the Middle East is a severe humanitarian crisis and a wave of terrorist acts, Rusev revealed.
At this stage, we cannot fear a large migrant wave similar to the one ten years ago with the Syrian refugees, he pointed out, adding that the situation is very different from then.
The Middle East has been shaking for the past week. Israel launched a ground operation in Lebanon, and on the night of October 1-2, Iran launched airstrikes against Israel. The brewing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel further threatens Lebanon, a country that has been in a severe economic crisis since 2019.
The country is on the brink of an even more severe crisis that threatens the few resources that keep it afloat.
According to Atanas Rusev, a severe humanitarian crisis will be unleashed in the coming months. “If it comes to full-scale ground operations, there will likely be even more displaced people.” “According to data from UN agencies, since the beginning of the conflict with Hezbollah, there are nearly 400,000 internally displaced people, and 100,000 people have crossed the border with Syria,” the guest pointed out.
He noted that Turkey is not prepared to let in refugees. “In this regard, Lebanon is very much in the situation of Gaza – these people are simply stuck in this territory and we expect a severe humanitarian crisis,” the interlocutor said.
Rusev pointed out that according to data from the International Center for the Study of Radicalization, based in London, between 2022 and 2023, attempts to organize and carry out terrorist attacks on the territory of Europe increased almost fourfold. A number of terrorist groups such as the Islamic State actively use the conflict as a motive for recruiting and radicalizing people.
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