Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea has expressed that Syrian nationals in Lebanon who vote for President Bashar al-Assad in the coming elections should go back to Syria.
Geagea said that “tens of thousands” of Syrian refugees in Lebanon were preparing to vote for Bashar al-Assad in the “farce-tragedy Syrian presidential elections” at their embassy in Hazmieh on Thursday.
Explaining the definition of a displaced person to make his point, he said it was “a person who leaves their country over a force majeure and security threats that prevent them from staying.”
Subsequently, he called on the Lebanese President and the caretaker Prime Minister to gain access to the list of names who vote for al-Assad and ensure the voters “leave Lebanon immediately to the areas controlled by the al-Assad regime in Syria,” adding that their vote means they are not threatened by the regime.
Several times this month, people in Lebanon were seen rallying and cheering for Bashar al-Assad despite the atrocities committed by his regime against the Syrian people, and which had compelled them to seek refuge in Lebanon.
In the past decade, countries around the world have experienced the Syrian refugee crisis. Lebanon itself has been home to 1.5 million displaced Syrians who had fled their country due to “security threats.”