Lebanon denies forcing Syrians home from Beirut airport

BEIRUT — Lebanese security forces on Saturday denied accusations by rights groups that they had coerced Syrians who had landed at Beirut airport into signing forms to return to their war-torn country.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) and four other groups on Friday accused Lebanon of "summarily deporting" at least 16 Syrians on April 26, after forcing them to sign "voluntary repatriation forms".

Most of them had been sent back to Lebanon after they were barred from entering northern Cyprus via Turkey, quashing their plans to seek asylum, HRW said. 

But Lebanon's General Security agency "categorically denies it forced any Syrian to sign any form", it said in a statement carried by state-run news agency NNA on Saturday.

"Any Syrian who arrives in Lebanon and does not meet entry requirements, and... wants to go to Syria because they do not wish to remain in their country of residence for a number of reasons, signs a declaration of responsibility for choosing to return voluntarily," it said.

Lebanon hosts almost 1 million Syrian refugees, a significant burden for a country that had 4.5 million inhabitants before the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011.

The latest deportees said they were "pressured" by general security officers at the airport, the rights group said.

Around 30 Syrians have been deported from Beirut airport this year by the general security agency, the rights group said, citing local refugee organisations.

General security estimates that over 170,000 Syrians returned home from Lebanon between December 2017 and March 2019.

The conflict has wound down in Syria, after a string of victories by the regime since 2015, but the United Nations has stressed all returns should be voluntary.

The rights groups say some 74 per cent of Syrians in Lebanon lack legal residency and are at risk of detention. 

Local media in Lebanon have reported that the supreme defence council, whose decisions are not made public, recently instructed general security to deport all Syrians who have entered the country illegally. 

The official NNA news agency, quoting a "security report", said on Friday that Lebanese authorities had deported 301 Syrians between May 7 and May 20.

Syria's war has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions inside the country and abroad.

The war was triggered in March 2011 by a violent crackdown on anti-government demonstrations.