BEIRUT: The head of the United Nations refugee agency said on Friday that safe zones would not work inside Syria for people fleeing the country’s nearly six-year-old war.
US President Donald Trump said last week he would “absolutely do safe zones in Syria” for refugees escaping violence and that Europe had made a mistake by admitting millions of refugees.
“Frankly, I don’t see in Syria the conditions” to create successful safe zones, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said at a news conference in Beirut.
“With the fragmentation, the number of actors, the presence of terrorist groups, it’s not the right place to think of that solution,” he added.
In a meeting with Grandi on Friday, Lebanese President Michel Aoun said earlier that world powers must work with the Damascus government to create safe zones in Syria so refugees can return to their country.
At least a million Syrians have fled since 2011 into Lebanon, which has an estimated total population of less than six million.
The war has divided Syria into a patchwork of areas controlled by President Bashar al Assad, various rebel groups fighting to unseat him, Kurdish militia and IS militants.
According to a document seen by Reuters, Trump is expected to order the Pentagon and the State Department to craft a plan for the safe zones, a move that could ratchet up US military involvement in Syria.
The UN refugee chief, who had just completed a visit to Syria, said his agency had not been approached about the plans and there were no details on what would constitute a safe zone or how it would be enforced.
“Let’s not waste time planning safe zones that will not be set up because they will not be safe enough for people to go back,” Grandi said. “Let’s concentrate on making peace so that everything becomes safe. That should be the investment.” — Reuters
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