Lebanon: In the midst of a worsening economic crisis and political impasse, Lebanese authorities are repressing Syrian refugees, and this escalation has alarmed the Syrian community there.

According to refugees and humanitarian organisations, the army has raided refugee camps and set up checkpoints to examine the identification of non-Lebanese citizens, arresting and frequently deporting Syrians found to lack legal residency.

In the eastern Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, a woman who is originally from the Syrian province of Idlib said, "People aren't sleeping in their houses... and are afraid even to go to work." She claimed that her husband was deported on 10 April along with 28 other men following a raid on an apartment complex in the Jounieh neighbourhood of Beirut. Since that time, she hasn't heard from him.

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The woman spoke on the condition of anonymity, just like other Syrians interviewed for this article, out of concern for retaliation. Every day, she said, her 4-year-old son inquires about his whereabouts. She worries that her husband, who, like many men who fled to Lebanon, was wanted for evading mandatory army service, has been detained in one of Syria's detention facilities.

There are now more ways to feel pressure. For Syrians, municipalities have implemented restrictive measures like curfews. The Interior Ministry declared on Tuesday that it had given municipalities the order to count and document all Syrian residents before allowing them to rent property.

Additionally, it requested that Syrians who frequently travel between Lebanon and their war-torn nation have their refugee status revoked by the UN agency for refugees. A group of government ministers demanded last week that UNHCR turn over comprehensive personal data on refugees in its database.

Lebanon is home to about 805,000 officially recognised Syrian refugees, who are theoretically protected by their legal status. However, those who fail to maintain the validity of their residency documents risk being expulsed. Syria's government ordered the UN to stop new registrations in 2015, but it is believed that the actual number of Syrians living in Lebanon after fleeing their nation's 12-year civil war is much higher.

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The number of Syrians living in the nation has been estimated by government officials to be anywhere between 1.5 million and more than 2 million. The population of Lebanon is thought to be between 5 million and 5.5 million people, but there hasn't been a census there in almost a century.

Since the start of Lebanon's economic collapse in 2019, officials have pushed harder for a large-scale exodus of Syrians, arguing that they are a burden on the country's limited resources and that the majority of Syria is now safe. The discourse has become more strident; most recently, a union federation launched a "National Campaign to Liberate Lebanon from the Syrian Demographic Occupation."

Hector Hajjar, the interim minister of social affairs, stated recently in interviews with local media that refugees make up 40% of Lebanon's population, which "no country in the world would accept."

According to Hajjar, the government of Lebanon can prevent the deportation of Syrians who meet the criteria for refugee status by exchanging information with the UN agency for refugees.

The organisation in charge of enforcing immigration laws, General Security, was contacted with inquiries about deportations. Requests for comment were not answered by the agency's or the Lebanese military's spokespeople, and neither organisation has released a statement regarding the deportations.

According to the UN agency for refugees, there have been more raids in Syrian communities and there have been reports of deportations of Syrians, including registered refugees. Apparently, it "takes reports of deportations of Syrian refugees very seriously."

UN representatives withheld the number of confirmed deportations. At least 200 deportations were reported in April, according to the Access Centre for Human Rights, a group that monitors the conditions of Syrian refugees.

The IMF-stalled negotiations and the nation's six-month impasse in choosing the next president both serve as backdrops to the anti-refugee campaign.

During a time of rising public resentment over their failure to address the country's economic and political crises, Mohanad Hage Ali, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Centre, claimed that refugees are being used as a scapegoat by Lebanese politicians.

Refugees are "sort of the punching bag that shows up when everyone needs one," the speaker claimed. He said the ongoing presidential impasse in Lebanon might also be related to the crackdown.

Sleiman Frangieh, a prominent presidential candidate who lives close to Damascus, has pledged to use his connections to help negotiate a deal for refugee returns. Army chief Gen. Joseph Aoun, who is likely to be his rival, might be "trying to show off his ability to forcibly return the refugees," according to Hage Ali.

Over the past few years, Lebanese authorities have deported Syrians on occasion, citing a rule that permits Syrians who entered without authorization after April 2019 to be forcibly removed.

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However, prior deportations were typically conducted in small numbers and in accordance with formal procedures, giving the UN and human rights organisations an opportunity to intervene and, in some instances, put a stop to them.

In contrast, there have been more reports in recent months of the Lebanese Army forcibly deporting people who are thought to be in the country illegally. Human rights groups have cited instances of returning refugees being imprisoned and tortured in Syria; the Lebanese government disputes these claims.