BEIRUT

Syrian refugees constitute around one-third of Lebanon’s population, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Thursday.

"We refuse that our country becomes an alternative homeland [to displaced Syrians],” Mikati said during a meeting in Beirut with Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, and Nikos Christodoulides, president of the Greek Cypriot Administration.

“We call our friends in the European Union to preserve Lebanon's value and carry on with solving this issue radically and swiftly," he added.

Calling on the European bloc to help encourage Syrian refugees to return to Syria, Mikati said what is needed is to make sure that Syria becomes safe.

Lebanon has been facing a crippling economic crisis since 2019 which, according to the World Bank, is one of the worst the world has seen in modern times.

Lebanon hosts 1.8 million Syrian refugees, about 900,000 of whom are registered with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).

On April 22, Mikati demanded the EU to assist Lebanon in returning displaced Syrians to their country.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar