World

Syrian refugees return home as anti-refugee sentiment intensifies in Lebanon

Published

2 years ago

May 14, 2024

Syrian refugees return home as anti-refugee sentiment intensifies in Lebanon

More than 300 Syrian refugees returned to Syria from two remote northeastern towns in crisis-stricken Lebanon on Tuesday.
Lebanese officials have been urging the international community to either resettle refugees or facilitate their return to Syria.
Lebanon, with a population of 6 million, hosts nearly 780,000 registered Syrian refugees and many more unregistered ones.

More than 300 Syrian refugees headed back home to Syria in a convoy on Tuesday, leaving two remote northeastern towns in crisis-stricken Lebanon where anti-refugee sentiment has been surging in recent months.

Lebanese officials have long urged the international community to either resettle the refugees in other countries or help them return to Syria. Over the past months, leading Lebanese political parties have become increasingly vocal, demanding that Syrian refugees go back.

A country of about 6 million people, Lebanon hosts nearly 780,000 registered Syrian refugees and hundreds of thousands who are unregistered — the world’s highest refugee population per capita.

VIOLENCE IN SYRIA RISES, AID DRIES UP AS CIVIL WAR BEGINS 14TH YEAR

In the northeastern town of Arsal, Syrian refugees piled their belongings onto the back of trucks and cars on Tuesday as Lebanese security officers collected their U.N. refugee agency cards and other paperwork before clearing them to leave.

A Syrian refugee woman carries her child as she prepares to go back home to Syria as part of a voluntary return, in the eastern Lebanese border town of Arsal, on May 14, 2024. More than 300 Syrian refugees headed back home to Syria in a convoy on Tuesday, leaving two remote northeastern towns in crisis-stricken Lebanon where anti-refugee sentiment has been surging in recent months. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

As the trucks pulled away, the refugees waved to friends and relatives staying behind, heading to an uncertain future in Syria.

Ahmad al-Rifai, on his way to the Qalamoun Mountains after over a decade in Lebanon, said that whatever the situation was in Syria, “it’s better to live in a house than in a tent.”

Lebanese security forces this year stepped up deportations of Syrians, although nowhere near the level threatened two years ago when the Lebanese government announced a plan to deport some 15,000 Syrians every month, to what they dubbed ” safe areas,” in cooperation with the government in Damascus.

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Tuesday’s convoy from the mountainous towns of Arsal and Qaa consisted of only 330 refugees who had signed up for repatriation, the first such “voluntary return” return organized by Lebanese security forces since late 2022.

“Nobody can not be happy to return to their home,” Ahmad Durro told The Associated Press while waiting in his truck. “I signed up a year ago to be in the convoy.”

But many other Syrians — especially young men facing compulsory military service or political opponents of the government of President Bashar Assad — say it’s unsafe to return.

Others see no future in Syria, where in many parts the fighting may have died down but an economic crisis has pulled millions into poverty.

An increasing number of refugees in Lebanon have taken to the sea in an attempt to reach Europe.

The UNHCR has said it only supports voluntary returns of Syrians based on informed consent. Yet, major human rights organizations remain skeptical of the voluntary nature of these returns amid anti-refugee hostility in Lebanon.

“Syrian refugees are, targeted by both geo sources and host communities. They are subjected to violence, insults and other degrading treatment,” Amnesty International’s deputy Middle East and North Africa Regional Director Aya Majzoub told the AP, also decrying curfews and other restrictions imposed on refugees by a handful of Lebanese municipalities.

“So our assessment is that in these conditions, it is very difficult for refugees to make free and informed decisions about returning to Syria.”

Amnesty International and other human rights organizations have documented cases of refugees detained and tortured by Syrian security agencies upon their return.

The UNHCR says nine out of 10 Syrian refugees in Lebanon live in extreme poverty and need humanitarian aid to survive. That aid has declined amid donor fatigue and as international attention shifted to other crises.

Many increasingly impoverished Lebanese have accused Syrian refugees of benefitting from the aid while beating Lebanese to jobs by accepting lower pay. Lebanon’s ruling political parties and leadership claim that most Syrians living in the tiny Mediterranean country are economic migrants rather than refugees escaping the war at home, now in its 13th year. Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group, a top ally of Assad, has made such an allegation.

“They have dollars and they are sending those dollars to relatives in Syria,” Nasrallah said in a speech on Monday.

Lebanese security agents have in the past weeks raided shops and other businesses employing undocumented Syrian workers, and shut them down.

The European Union this month announced an aid package worth about $1.06 billion of which about 200 million euros would go to security and border control, in an apparent bid to curb migration from Lebanon to Cyprus, Italy, and other parts of Europe.

While Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed the aid, other officials described it as a bribe for tiny Lebanon to keep the refugees.

Parliament is to discuss the EU package on Wednesday, with lawmakers from the entire political spectrum expected to ramp up anti-refugee sentiment and call for more refugee returns and crackdowns.

World

Dave Chappelle Announces Surprise Netflix Special Releasing After Jake Paul Fight

Published

8 hours ago

December 20, 2025

Press Room

Dave Chappelle Announces Surprise Netflix Special Releasing After Jake Paul Fight

Dave Chappelle is delivering a holiday treat for standup fans by surprise dropping a new Netflix special called “The Unstoppable.”

Before the main event during the Dec. 18 Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua fight night, Chappelle stopped by the livestream with a short clip to announce the news.

“I wanted to shout out my hometown, Washington, D.C., and thank everybody that came out in October to support me at that show,” Chappelle said in the video. “I just want you to know that show will be streaming on Netflix tonight after the fight. My new special drops, and I hope you love it. Thank you very much.”

Chappelle has had a long professional relationship with Netflix. This upcoming program will be his eighth standup special with the streamer, following “The Age of Spin,” “Deep in the Heart of Texas,” “Equanimity,” “The Bird Revelation,” “Sticks & Stones,” “The Closer” and “The Dreamer.” Netflix also released a recorded speech the comedian gave at his alma mater, the Duke Ellington High School of Arts, titled “What’s in a Name?”

The Paul vs. Joshua fight brought Netflix notables and other celebrities ringside in Miami, including Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria, director Benny Safdie, comedians Bert Kreischer and Matt Rife, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, singer Shaggy and more. In addition to the main event, earlier matches included Alycia Baumgardner defeating Leila Beaudoin, Anderson Silva defeating Tyron Woodley and Jahmal Harvey defeating Kevin Cervantes.

As for the fight itself? Joshua ended up the winner by knockout, with Paul lasting six rounds.

World

Former Hamas hostage warned Australian leaders about dangers of antisemitism months before Bondi Beach attack

Published

9 hours ago

December 20, 2025

Press Room

Former Hamas hostage warned Australian leaders about dangers of antisemitism months before Bondi Beach attack

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A former Hamas hostage told Fox News Digital that he warned Australian leaders to take antisemitism more seriously months before the deadly shooting at Bondi Beach.

Eli Sharabi, who spent 491 days as a hostage in Gaza, said the attack on Bondi Beach was “crazy,” but far from unpredictable. Sharabi told Fox News Digital that while in Australia in June, he met with Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong and warned them that rising antisemitism would lead to something worse.

Sharabi recalled telling the officials that a hate crime would take place in Australia and that he would “see the fears” of Jewish people walking on the streets. He urged them to speak out against antisemitism before it was too late.

RABBI KILLED IN SYDNEY HANUKKAH ATTACK HAD WARNED AUSTRALIAN PM ABOUT RISING ANTISEMITISM

Rabbi Yossi Friedman speaks to people gathering at a flower memorial by the Bondi Pavilion at Bondi Beach on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, following a shooting in Sydney, Australia. (Mark Baker/AP Photo)

He recounted to Fox News Digital the moment he told Marles and Wong, “When it happens, a hate crime here, it will be your responsibility because you have to have a stronger voice against antisemitism.” Though, Sharabi said he did not know why he told them that at the time.

“Unfortunately, it happened. And that’s crazy, it’s crazy. Really, I’m so sorry for that,” he said.

A spokesperson for Wong said that she “deeply appreciated her meeting with Eli Sharabi and thanks him for sharing his insights and experiences.”

“Minister Wong has consistently condemned antisemitism and antisemitic attacks,” the spokesperson said. “In response to the horrific antisemitic terror attack at Bondi, we are further strengthening laws against those who spread antisemitism and online abuse, ensuring our education system properly responds to antisemitism, and lowering the threshold to cancel visas for those who come to Australia to spread antisemitism.”

The spokesperson also conveyed Wong’s sympathies to the loved ones of the Bondi Beach shooting victims.

Sharabi told Fox News Digital that the attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach that left at least 15 dead and dozens wounded, reminded him of the persecution of European Jews in the 1940s.

“Suddenly you feel like it’s the 1940s again, and we are in 2025, 90 years later, all these things are happening again,” Sharabi said.

AUSTRALIA ANTI-TERROR POLICE DETAIN 7 MEN AS COUNTRY LAYS YOUNGEST BONDI BEACH VICTIM TO REST

A member of the Jewish community reacts as he walks with police toward the scene of a shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney on Dec. 14, 2025. (David Gray/AFP via Getty Images)

On Feb. 8, 2025, Sharabi was released from Hamas captivity, 491 days after he was taken hostage from Kibbutz Be’eri during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. He did not know until after he was freed that his wife, Lianne, and their daughters, Noiya and Yahel, had been killed when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel.

Since his release, Sharabi has traveled the world speaking to Jewish communities, world leaders and various audiences about his experience as a hostage, something he recounted in his book, “Hostage,” which has been translated into multiple languages.

Israeli hostages Or Levy, Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross by Hamas under a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement with Israel, in Deir al Balah, Gaza, on Feb. 8, 2025. (Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)

After he was released, he learned that while he was in the hands of terrorists, there were people around the world praying for him and demanding he and the other hostages be freed.

He said that while he was in the hospital in the days following his release, he was slowly exposed to the work that people in Israel and around the world did to advocate for him and the other hostages. It started with revelations about his family and friends, then his realization that people in Israel and around the world also took part in the fight for his release.

He soon joined the fight, advocating for the release of all hostages, including Alon Ohel, someone who Sharabi bonded with during his time in captivity.

“It was an amazing feeling to see him released. He’s like my son,” Sharabi told Fox News Digital.

Sharabi said that he and Ohel have seen each other a few times as free men and that they try to speak every day.

Eli Sharabi, who spent 491 days in Hamas captivity, and whose wife and two daughters were killed by terrorists, speaks at the United Nations. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

OPINION: AUSTRALIA’S HANUKKAH MASSACRE: THE HORROR OF BEING PROVEN RIGHT

Sharabi told Fox News Digital about his life after captivity. Now a free man for nearly a year, he said he appreciates every moment.

“First of all, I’m alive. Second, I’m free, and I’ve learned that freedom is priceless,” he said. “Every morning I wake up, I say thank you very much for what I have and for my freedom, and I can be able to choose whatever I do that day and not to ask permission from anyone to eat or drink or speak,” he told Fox News Digital. “I’m happy with my life. The memory of my wife, my daughters and my brother will be with me until my last day.”

Former Hamas hostage Eli Sharabi and Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon hold a photo of Sharabi’s family that shows his wife and daughters, all three of whom were murdered on Oct. 7, 2023. (Perry Bindelglass/Israeli U.N. Mission)

Sharabi told Fox News Digital that while in captivity, he promised himself that he would move his family to London, where they could live a peaceful life. He said that he made the decision because of the fear he saw in his daughters’ eyes on Oct. 7.

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While his plans on relocating to London have changed, Sharabi envisions himself living a quiet life and focusing on his own healing once the body of Ran Gvili, the last remaining hostage in Gaza, is returned to Israel. However, Sharabi said that he cannot go back to Kibbutz Be’eri and that he will likely seek a fresh start a bit further north in central Israel.

“I can’t go back to Be’eri. It’s something I need to solve with myself and with my therapist, of course. How can I get into my house again? For me, living in Be’eri, it’s not an option. In every corner, I can see the tragedy,” Sharabi said. “I need a new place, a new restart for my life, so it cannot be in Be’eri.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Marles’ office for comment.

Rachel Wolf is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.

World

Ex-Pakistan PM Imran Khan, wife sentenced to 17 years in corruption case

Published

11 hours ago

December 20, 2025

Press Room

Ex-Pakistan PM Imran Khan, wife sentenced to 17 years in corruption case

Khan and his wife have denied accusations that they misrepresented the value of state gifts, including jewellery, and profited from them.

Published On 20 Dec 2025

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been sentenced to 17 years in prison after a Pakistani court found them guilty of illegally retaining and selling valuable state gifts.

The sentence, handed down on Saturday, capped a years-long saga that saw the duo accused of selling various gifts – including jewellery from the Saudi Arabian government – at far below market value. They have denied all charges.

In order to keep gifts from foreign dignitaries, Pakistani law requires officials to purchase them at market value and to declare profits from any sales.

But prosecutors claimed that the couple profited from the items after purchasing them at an artificially low price of $10,000, compared with their market rate of $285,521.

Khan’s supporters were quick to denounce the ruling, with his spokesperson Zulfikar Bukhari saying that “criminal liability was imposed without proof of intent, gain, or loss, relying instead on a retrospective reinterpretation of rules”.

His party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, wrote on social media that the proceedings were a “sham” and criticised international media coverage of the case.

The 73-year-old former leader served as Pakistan’s prime minister from 2018 until April 2022, when he was ousted in a no-confidence vote.

He was imprisoned starting in August 2023 on various charges of corruption and revealing state secrets, all of which he has denied and claimed to be politically motivated. He has been acquitted of some charges.

An internationally famous cricket player in the heyday of his sporting career, Khan remains popular in Pakistan, with his imprisonment leading to protests throughout the last two years.

The former leader is now confined to a prison in the city of Rawalpindi and “kept inside all the time”, his sister, Uzma Khanum, told journalists earlier this month.

Khanum, a doctor who was the first family member allowed to visit Khan in weeks, described him as “very angry” about the isolation, saying that he considered the “mental torture” of imprisonment to be “worse than physical abuse”.