Lebanon won't deport six detained Syrian refugees
Five of the six men are from Syria's Daraa province, where government forces and rebels have clashed in recent months.
Lebanon says it won’t deport six Syrian refugees detained for entering the country without authorization after rights groups said they risked arbitrary detention and torture if they were forcibly returned home.
On Aug. 28, the Lebanese army said it had arrested six Syrians for "entering Lebanon illegally.” The men were detained outside the Syrian Embassy in Beirut, where they had reportedly gone to collect their passports.
The detainees were then handed over to Lebanon's General Security agency. Following an uproar from human rights organizations, on Wednesday the Lebanese security chief confirmed the men would not be sent back to Syria.
"General Security will not deport the six Syrians and will work to regularize their legal status," Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim told Agence France-Presse.
