Lebanon army ‘detains several hundred Syrians’ in raids on camps

Lebanon’s army detains around 400 Syrians in raids on refugee camps in the eastern Bekaa valley, mostly for overstaying their residence permits, a military source says Thursday.

Almost eight years into Syria’s war, neighboring Lebanon hosts around 1.5 million Syrians, many of whom live in the east of the tiny Mediterranean country.

On Wednesday, the army in the Arsal area detained “33 people with arrest warrants, 56 people without identity papers, and 300 others over expired documents,” it says in the statement.

The military source says all were Syrians, and that those with no or out-of-date documents had been handed over to the security forces.

Those arrested had “committed an action against the law,” they tell AFP, without providing any further details.

Lebanon’s army from time to time sweeps down on Syrian refugee camps, especially those in the east of the country. Tens of thousands of Syrians live there, many from towns and villages on the other side of the Syrian-Lebanese border.

— AFP