Arab countries should share the burden in supporting and hosting Syrian refugees, Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil said on Thursday, highlighting the pressure a growing crisis has put on Syria's immediate neighbours. Most of Syria's 4 million refugees are sheltering in neighbouring countries, including 1.1 million in Lebanon, but as conditions worsen and aid is stretched, record numbers of migrants have headed for Europe. The crisis has prompted some European leaders to announce a greater refugee intake, with Germany taking the lead as it expects an estimated 800,000 people to arrive this year. In the Middle East, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan have borne the brunt of the Syrian refugee crisis, but Gulf Arab countries have taken in no refugees. "Countries in the region can help on the issue of refugees - they can receive them," Bassil told Reuters in an interview. "Having a Syrian in a nearby Arab country in the region, it's much easier for that country, and for the refugee to come back later (to Syria)," he said. Bassil was responding to a question about the refugee policy of Gulf Arab states, but avoided pointing the finger directly at those countries. "Everybody who is part, whether European, Occidental, or an Arab country, who was part of the conflict in Syria, has the responsibility to share the burden, not only financially. "All Arab countries... are responsible to share that burden," he said. Bassil is leader of the Free Patriotic Movement of Christian politician Michel Aoun, which is part of a wider political alliance that includes Iranian-backed Shi'ite Hezbollah. Echoing comments by local politicians, Bassil also said Lebanon must encourage Syrians to return to what he called safe areas of the war-torn country, voicing concerns over the strain the crisis has placed on Syria's smaller neighbour. But the international community urges caution over declaring any zones inside Syria "safe", in a brutal conflict that has killed an estimated 250,000 people and driven more than 11 million, nearly half the country's population, from their homes. Bassil said Syrians should be discouraged from migrating in the first place, to Lebanon or to Europe. "This is where we should let the Syrian government bear the responsibility. Why should we bear it ourselves?" "The first measure is to encourage people to go back to Syria, (but) not force them," he said. "It is not to force people to go back. It is to stop encouraging people to come to Lebanon from Syria." Conditions for Syrian refugees in Lebanon and the wider region have worsened considerably this year. Insufficient funding has forced UN agencies to scale back aid, with the World Food Programme cutting by half the food assistance it can give to hundreds of thousands of refugees. It has strained resources in Lebanon, where one in every four people is a refugee, and has caused tension, including an increase in physical attacks on Syrians. The Red Cross on Thursday said it carried out its largest food distribution in Lebanon since the beginning of the four-year-old Syrian civil war. "Host communities were already living in poor conditions prior to the crisis. They are now sharing the burden with a large number of refugees who sought safety in their villages," ICRC food distribution coordinator Jeroen Carrin said in a statement. Under the strain, Lebanon in May stopped the UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, from registering more refugees. The move has begun to discourage refugees from heading for Lebanon, according to a senior UNHCR official. Nevertheless, Bassil warned of further friction in the near future. "People will be fighting over scarce resources," he said. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/140203.aspx
