by Dana Halawi

BEIRUT, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's economic and financial crisis is encouraging an increased number of Syrian refugees to return to their homeland, according to experts.

"Syrians' businesses in the country have been negatively impacted and Syrian labors who used to work for the agriculture and construction sectors, for instance, lost their jobs due to economic slowdown," Amal Abou Zeid, foreign ministry's representative on the joint Lebanese-Russian committee for the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland, told Xinhua.

Since the beginning of the civil war in Syria in 2011, a big number of refugees flocked to Lebanon, seeking refuge in the country while opening different kinds of businesses, which created big competition with Lebanese companies.

Meanwhile, Syrians who could not afford to open businesses worked in different fields in the country with salaries lower than those paid to the Lebanese, which resulted in the lay-off of a big number of local employees.

This has created anger among local citizens who, on many occasions, asked for the return of refugees to their homeland.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun and caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil worked hard on the international levels to secure a safe return for refugees to reduce the burden of their presence in Lebanon on the economy and weak infrastructure.

However, Lebanese officials' continuous demands were always faced with rejection by the international community, which requires a political solution to the Syrian crisis to facilitate the return of refugees.

"Nowadays, some of the refugees are even returning without cooperating with the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) since they cannot even withdraw the dollar cash offered to them by NGOs through ATM machines," Abou Zeid said.

He noted that Syrians who were employed by Lebanese companies have also lost their jobs because a big number of local businesses shut down due to economic slowdown and their inability to access U.S. dollar to import products and operate properly.

The UNHCR estimates the number of registered Syrian refugees to stand at 916,113 up till November 2019, but the total number, including those who have not been registered with the agency, is much higher.

Spokesperson of the UNHCR Lisa Abou Khaled told Xinhua that around 31,156 individuals returned since 2017, according to UNHCR figures.

"There are in fact more individuals returning on their own than the above figure; the numbers reported by UNHCR only represent the ones we have been able to confirm directly," she said.

Abou Khaled told Xinhua that the most vulnerable communities, both Lebanese and refugees, are the ones affected the most by the current economic situation.

"Understandably, the current situation brings with it a level of anxiety among refugees in Lebanon. As we know and for years now, most Syrian refugees have been living in poverty and can barely keep afloat," she said, adding that humanitarian programs are subject to the same financial regulations currently affecting all bank users in Lebanon.

Abou Khaled is referring to the U.S. dollar shortage crisis which is preventing depositors in Lebanese banks from withdrawing their U.S. dollars deposits.

Abou Khaled added that socio-economic factors were mentioned among the reasons for the refugees' decision to return. Enditem

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