Leader of the Lebanese Forces Party, Samir Geagea, urged Minister of Interior and Municipalities Bassam Mawlawi to "take all necessary legal actions against the head of the UNHCR office in Lebanon, due to his violation of Lebanese sovereignty and his interference in the application of Lebanese laws, attempting to obstruct the measures and actions that have been taken."
He stated in a statement: "It is very regretful to see how low the Lebanese legitimacy has reached, to the extent that the head of the UNHCR office in Lebanon, without the slightest hesitation, directed a letter to the Minister of Interior in the caretaker government, Bassam Mawlawi, requesting to stop what he called inhumane practices and to reverse the actions taken by the Lebanese authorities against illegal Syrian refugees, as if he has become the owner of the house and we are merely guests."
Geagea emphasized: "We will not accept what the head of the UNHCR office has done and is doing; this land is ours, the country is ours, and sovereignty in this land belongs to the Lebanese people and the Lebanese state. He cannot use humanitarian considerations as a pretext, as no people in the world have sympathized with refugees more than the Lebanese people. Nor can he invoke international considerations, because the memorandum of understanding signed between the Lebanese state and the United Nations in 2003 is clear and not open to interpretation."
He added: "If the heart of the head of the UNHCR office is aching for the conditions of illegal refugees in Lebanon, he should just move them to his country and provide them with various forms of humanitarian assistance for the next thirteen years in exchange for the thirteen years of sympathy that the Lebanese have shown them."
Geagea continued: "I call upon the Minister of Interior, explicitly and clearly, to take all possible legal actions against the head of the UNHCR office in Lebanon after he exceeded his legal limits in all areas, whether it's by distributing asylum cards to Syrians in Lebanon contrary to the 2003 memorandum, or by treating illegal immigrants as if they were refugees and distributing assistance to them, or by ignoring the year-long period stipulated in the memorandum of understanding, thereby necessitating their departure rather than their stay."
He concluded: "The Minister of Interior is also required to take all legal actions against the head of the UNHCR office in Lebanon for violating Lebanese sovereignty and interfering in the application of Lebanese laws on Lebanese territory, attempting to obstruct the measures and actions taken by official Lebanese authorities to maintain security, stability, and the implementation of applicable laws in Lebanon."
