Hariri said the refugee influx has stretched Lebanon’s economy to its limit
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri has warned that his country is close to “breaking point” due to strains of hosting more than one million Syrian refugees, fearing that unrest could escalate from tensions between refugees and local communities.
Speaking to foreign media on Friday, Hariri said: “Today if you go around most of the host communities, there is huge tension between the Lebanese and the Syrians … I fear civil unrest.”
The remarks came as the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said in a report that the number of refugees who have fled the civil war in Syria since it broke out in 2011, now exceeds five million.
Refugees from Syria make up about a quarter of Lebanon’s population. They mostly live in informal camps across the country, some, in severe poverty.
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