Soaid Urges Bassil to Exploit 'Friendship' with Assad and Hizbullah

March 14 General Secretariat Coordinator Fares Soaid urged Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil to take advantage of his friendship with Syrian President Bashar Assad and Hizbullah in order to convince them to stop killing the Syrians so they do not flow into Lebanon for shelter, al-Mustaqbal daily reported on Sunday.

“The first thing that the Lebanese must do to counter the influx of Syrians is to urge the Foreign Minister to talk to the friends of Bashar, that is Hizbullah, who is killing the people in Syria and to ask the Syrian regime itself to stop killing its people so they do not flow into Lebanon,” Soaid stated to the daily.

On fears over the naturalization of Syrians, Soaid pointed out: “The issue of naturalization does not resemble the issue of the Palestinians. When the Palestinians first came to Lebanon, it was because their land had been robbed unlike the case in Syria where the land and geography exist. The Syrians can return any time when the situation calms down in their country.”

He added saying that “the Lebanese are keen to lift the burden of the Syrian refugees and therefore should urge Bassil to talk to Bashar and Hizbullah so the Syrians will not flow into Lebanon.”

Syria's five-year conflict has killed more than 270,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes, with neighboring countries bearing the brunt of the refugee crisis.

Lebanon is home to the highest percentage of refugees per capita in the world.

Nearly 1.2 million Syrians are now living in Lebanon, while more than 450,000 Palestinian refugees are also registered with the U.N., though experts believe the number of Palestinians in the tiny country is actually lower.