Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam stressed that the "region’s countries are crumbling, and millions of people are losing their homes and heading towards the unknown."
During his speech at the 70th conference of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Salam tackled the incident of 3-year-old Alan Kurdi, noting that this event represents the situation of human rights in the Middle East.
(Alan Kurdi was a three-year-old Syrian Kurdish child whose image made global headlines after he drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, as part of the Syrian refugee crisis, and his body was later found at the shores.)
In this regard, the prime minister urged the International Community to end their stand-by status and put an end to the Syrian bloodshed, through a political solution that ensures the country’s unity, stability and territorial integrity.
Speaking of Syrian displacement, Salam said that “Europe, with its immense potential, stood puzzled before thousands of refugees who suddenly arrived in its cities, while Lebanon with its small territory and limited capabilities has been hosting for four years 1.5 million Syrian refugees.”
“The governmental infrastructure and the hosting communities have been drained to their maximum, at a time when international assistance has decreased under the pretext of ‘donors’ exhaustion’,” he added.
In the same context, he called for adopting the principle of shared responsibility to divide the burden between the countries, stressing the need to establish buffer zones for the refugees in Syria or gathering points in border areas.
Commenting on the issue of the kidnapped soldiers, Salam emphasized that the Lebanese government has been deploying strong efforts for over a year to release them, reiterating Lebanon’s commitment to fighting terrorism in all forms.
On another note, Salam recalled Lebanon’s call on the International Community to oblige Israel to end its violations against Lebanon’s sovereignty and cooperate with the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to demarcate what remains of the blue line.