BEIRUT: A majority of Lebanese believe the influx of Syrian refugees in their country threatens national security, Norway’s Fafo research foundation said in a report obtained Thursday by AFP. In the survey carried out by Fafo in late May of this year, 900 people were interviewed across Lebanon, a country of more than 4 million people which now hosts around 600,000 Syrian refugees.
The findings showed that “52 percent of the respondents believe that the Syrian refugees are posing a threat to national security and stability,” the survey said.
Fifty-four percent said Lebanon “should not receive more refugees” while 82 percent said refugees are taking jobs from the Lebanese and causing wages to fall.
About half of those interviewed said the Syrians were “supported financially to an unfair degree.”
Many Lebanese also said that they could not trust the Syrian people, with some 61 percent saying that they were “not comfortable” having Syrians as close neighbors.
Sixty-seven percent – or two in three polled – said they were “uncomfortable sharing a meal with Syrians” and 82 percent said that they would not be happy if a family member married a Syrian.
More than 90 percent of Lebanese who were surveyed said that the Syrian conflict “has had a negative impact on the Lebanese government’s capacity to protect Lebanese citizens and govern.”
The conflict that erupted in Syria in March 2011 has spilled over the border into Lebanon where supporters and opponents of the Damascus regime have clashed frequently.
The United Nations says there are about 600,000 Syrian refugees registered in Lebanon, although other independent estimates say the number could be closer to 1 million.
Two-thirds of those polled said the U.N. should open camps in Lebanon for Syrian refugees as it did in Jordan and Turkey.
Lebanon’s Ambassador to the United Nations Nawaf Salam Wednesday vowed his country would keep its borders open to refugees from Syria but said the government may have to consider opening camps.
“Lebanon will not close its borders. Lebanon will not turn back any refugee,” Salam said.
However, the ambassador added that Beirut “needs concrete international help to cope with this growing problem.”

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12/07/2013
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