Dutch FM says Lebanon under pressure over Syrian refugee crisis

Visiting Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said Monday that his country realizes that Lebanon "was under pressure because of the Syrian refugees crisis."

At a press conference with his Lebanese counterpart Gebran Bassil, Koenders said that he would visit a Syrian refugee camp in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley, pointing out that it was "essential to find a solution to this very deep crisis in Syria."

He said the Netherlands had allocated 25 million U.S. dollars for reception facilities in Lebanon.

"It's important to note that this amount of money is something meant for refugees but also Lebanese communities," the visiting diplomat said.

According to the United Nations Higher Commission for Refugee, Lebanon hosts more than 1.2 million Syrian refugees who fled their country since the uprising against the regime of President Bashar Assad.

In recent weeks, thousands of refugees from Syria have taken to an illegal route across land and sea to reach safety in Europe using Lebanon as a transit point to cross to Turkey.

For his part, Bassil said that "now that the mass migration waves have touched Europe, we witness shut borders all over the continent."

He said that Lebanon had been coping with the "harsh reality" of its large refugee population "despite our scarce resources."

He added the solution to the ongoing refugee crisis would be reaching a political solution to Syria's entrenched conflict.

Koenders arrived in Beirut Monday to discuss the refugee crisis facing Europe and the Middle East with Bassil, ahead of a summit for the EU countries to be held Wednesday in Brussels on the subject.

His visit comes one week after British Prime Minister David Cameron visited Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon and Jordan. Endit