Citing Cyprus state radio, local newspaper Al-Akhbar reported that the Nicosia government had expressed its willingness to donate speedboats and conduct joint patrols with Lebanon to prevent the arrival of migrants on the island.
This is in response to the fact that recent sea arrivals indicate a change in traffickers’ routes away from Türkiye and the Lebanese coast, Ioannou said.
Cyprus provided six speedboats (two by the end of 2023 and another four next year) to conduct operations on the Lebanese coast and train military personnel dedicated to preventing migration via irregular routes.
This year, Lebanese authorities have intercepted several boats carrying immigrants and prevented people-smuggling operations bound for Europe.
In this context, the Lebanese army command warned of the consequences of immigration after rescuing 27 citizens on board a rubber boat on Chekka beach in the north of the country last weekend.
Previously, in the middle of this month, armed forces units captured the organizers of a human trafficking operation and 48 Syrians who were planning to travel by boat from Tripoli port to other destinations.
In July, Internal Security arrested more than 230 Lebanese and Syrian people trying to board boats in the north of the country.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, about 1.5 million Syrians live on Lebanese soil, nearly 900,000 of whom are registered and most struggle to pay for electricity, water, education, health and nutrition.
At the same time, around 210,000 Palestinians live in overcrowded conditions in twelve official camps in Lebanon and outside host communities.
The Nation of Cedars faces the obstacles of a presidential vacuum, without political consensus, foreign interference and in the midst of the worst economic crisis of its modern era.
jf/yma