Lebanese authorities are making their most aggressive campaign yet for Syrian refugees to return home and are taking action to ensure they can't put down roots.
Mirroring the rise of anti-migrant sentiment in Europe and around the world, some in Lebanon say that after eight years of war in neighboring Syria they have had enough of the burden of the highest concentration of refugees per capital in the world 1 million amid a Lebanese population of nearly 5 million especially at a time when they are facing austerity measures and a weakened economy.
Anti-refugee sentiment in Lebanon has waxed and waned in the past. It's been persistent but limited among a public torn by conflicting feelings resentment over past domination by Syria and worry over the refugees' impact on their country's delicate sectarian balance, but also sympathy for the refugees amid memories of their own displacement during Lebanon's long civil war.
But this time a rising star in the country's politics has latched onto the issue. Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil has led the campaign, saying Syrians should return home and using nationalist language, like saying the "genetic distinction" of Lebanese will unite them to confront the refugee issue. During one rally organized by Bassil's party this month held under the slogan of