Cyprus will use all legal means to stop the flow of irregular migrants from neighbouring Lebanon along with the trafficking of persons by various rings and that’s why drastic measures have been proposed.
This is what Philenews reported on Wednesday, citing a letter sent the day earlier by Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou to his Lebanese counterpart Bassam Mawlawi.
The proposal includes the provision of vessels from the Republic of Cyprus to Lebanon along with the training of Lebanese officers as well as joint patrols.
Nicosia has gone as far as to propose the financing of operations against illegal immigration or even repair vessels carrying migrants so that they can return to their place of departure.
On Tuesday authorities in Cyprus went “on alert” after information was received that “hundreds” of Syrian refugees would soon arrive on boats from Lebanon.
A boat carrying 95 asylum-seekers reached Cyprus from Lebanon on Sunday, where passengers told interpreters that around 500 people were preparing to leave on the same route to Cyprus.
Cyprus is the closest EU country to Lebanon and Syria, and in recent years, it has faced a sharp increase in asylum-seekers arriving on its shores.
Analysts mainly attribute this increase in migration to the deteriorating economic situations in both Lebanon and Syria, which have been undergoing protected economic crises since 2019.
