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Lebanon shuts door to more displaced from Mosul battles

Xinhua, October 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

Lebanon asserted Monday that there is no possibility for his country to receive displaced people from the military operations in the Iraqi city of Mosul, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.

Minister of Interior and Municipalities Nouhad Machnouk said so after meeting with deputy high commissioner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Kelly Clements, adding that "the Lebanese government's decision is quite clear in banning the entrance except in extraordinary humanitarian cases," said the report.

He also said that "Kurdistan Region and Turkey borders are closer for the citizens of Mosul than the Lebanese borders."

For her part, Clements stressed that her visit to Lebanon is to discuss "what the international community can do to help the government and people of Lebanon with the great burdens they are sustaining with displaced people from Syria."

She declared the Syrian refugees in Lebanon issue is a top priority for the international community, and the UN and the UNHCR are ready to help Lebanon and its people as a way to thank them for sustaining the burden.

The UNHCR figure shows that Lebanon hosts more than 1.1 million Syrian refugees; the Lebanese officials put the number at around 1.5 million. Endit