Over 100,000 Syrians have fled to Lebanon since the crisis began Beirut – Georges Chahine Lebanese President Michel Sleiman has met with Prime Minister Najib Mikati ahead of a series of important international engagements between Lebanon and other Arab countries .
The two men, meeting at the presidential palace in Baabda on Saturday, reportedly discussed political and security issues ahead of a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Sleiman will participate in a United Nations conference in Kuwait on January 30 to address the issue of displaced Syrians, after thousands of refugees entered the country to flee the 22-month conflict still raging inside Syria.
The conference will be chaired by UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki- moon, and will bring together 60 countries and 20 international organisations in an attempt to drum up funds with which to tackle the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said: “Lebanon is committed to the issue of displaced Syrians, on both a humanitarian and moral level. We will continue to pay attention to it.”
Mikati’s remarks came during a roundtable discussion, attended by heads of state from Libya, Morocco, Palestine and Egypt, on changes in the Middle East at the annual economic summit.
"Our government is committed to supporting displaced Syrian families until they return to their country,” the Prime Minister said. “We do not distinguish between opponents or supports of the Syrian regime. We sympathise from a purely humanitarian perspective.”
Mikati added: “It is now necessary for Lebanon to receive urgent aid so that it can handle the accumulating burden of hosting refugees, whose numbers are only increasing.”
The Prime Minister warned the crisis was now reaching a “dangerous level,” and international aid was necessary to preserve “internal stability and peace.”
Speaker of the House, Nabih Berri, meanwhile reportedly met with Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Abdel Karim, to discuss relations between the two countries as well as the current situation inside Syria.
Karim accused some countries -- including the US and European states -- of trying to “destroy” Syria by helping perceived terrorist fighters within the country.
The Ambassador defended President Bashar al-Assad’s initiative, announced at a rare public speech in Damascus earlier this month, for a national dialogue between government and opposition forces. Karim called it a “rescuing vision.”