Head of Free Patriotic Movement Gebran Bassil urged the Lebanese government on Thursday to put in place further measures to cut the number of Syrian refugees in the country.

In an FPM conference on refugees, Bassil said that Lebanon must implement its plan to return the refugees and must apply local and international laws.

Bassil asked the international community to stop pressuring Lebanon, financing the displaced and making them scared of returning to their land.

“The international community must rather finance the safe return of refugees,” Bassil said.

Lebanon has given shelter to more than 1 million Syrian refugees but many claim the number is far higher. The U.N. refugee agency has registered about 825,000 Syrians but stopped counting them in 2015 at the request of Lebanese authorities. Officials touted last year a plan to return 15,000 refugees a month, which has so far failed to materialize.

UNHCR says at least 76,500 Syrian refugees returned voluntarily from Lebanon since 2016, some in government-organized trips and some on their own.

Syria’s conflict that began in March 2011 has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.

Source: Websites