President Aoun: Syrian refugees in Lebanon cannot stay forever

At least a million people have fled the Syrian civil war since 2011 into Lebanon, which has an estimated total population of less than six million.

U.S. President Trump said last week he would "absolutely do safe zones in Syria" for refugees fleeing violence and that Europe had made a mistake by admitting millions of refugees.

The Syrian government said on Monday that any attempt to create so-called safe zones for refugees without coordinating with Damascus would be "unsafe" and violate Syria's sovereignty.

Almost six years of war has divided Syria into a patchwork of areas controlled by Assad's government, various rebel groups, Kurdish militia and Islamic State militants.

The conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people, made more than half of Syrians homeless and created the world's worst refugee crisis.