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world news Diabierna 21 Mei 2021

Lebanese attack Syrian voters in sign of growing resentment

(AP) - Groups of angry Lebanese deal. The U.N., the EU and the U.S.
on Thursday beat up Syrian ex- say conditions are not ripe for the re-
patriates and refugees heading to turn of millions of refugees.
the Syrian Embassy in Beirut and
pelted their cars and buses with Also on Thursday, UNHCR said it
stones and sticks, outraged over received reports of intimidation and
what they perceive as an orga- pressure, according to Lisa Abou
nized vote for President Bashar Khaled, a spokesperson for the agen-
Assad. cy, adding that the agency was look-
ing into it “to ensure that refugees
Meanwhile, some Syrian refugees re- are free to decide whether or not to
ported being pressured to cast their vote.”
ballot with threats of physical vio-
lence or confiscation of documenta- Assad has been in power since 2000
tion that could lead to loss of refugee when he took over from his father,
status, the U.N. refugee agency said. Hafez, who ruled for 30 years. In the
10-year conflict, Assad has been sup-
Assad is running for a fourth seven- ported by Iran and Russia.
year term — facing symbolic compe-
tition from two other candidates — While fighting has subsided in recent
in a vote all but guarantees to bring years, Syria remains torn. Thousands
him back as president. The Syrian jured. unprecedented economic crisis. of foreign troops are based in differ-
opposition, as well as Western and ent parts of the country. The elections
some Arab countries see it as a sham “If they want to vote, they can go Calls for Syrians to go home have are not taking place in at least four
designed to give Assad a new man- home and vote there,” said Fadi Nad- also been a widely politicized issue provinces under the control of the
date with a veneer of legitimacy. It er, a Lebanese protester. “Since they among Lebanese, deeply divided over opposition or Syrian Kurdish forces,
also comes in violation of U.N. reso- love Bashar Assad, why don’t they go the 10-year conflict in Syria, some depriving nearly 8 million Syrians of
lutions that call for a new constitu- home?” supporting Assad and others backing a vote.
tion before a presidential vote. his opposition.
Lebanese soldiers stood guard as The Biden administration has said it
The in-country vote is expected next hundreds of Syrians queued outside The violence came a day after Samir will not recognize the result of Syria’s
week. their embassy in Yarze, east of Bei- Geagea, the head of the Lebanese presidential election.
rut, to cast their ballots. Some Syrians Forces group, called for for those
In Lebanon, scattered mobs, mostly shouted slogans in support of Assad who vote for Assad to go back home France and Germany banned any vot-
from the Christian right-wing Leba- as they waited. since they are clearly not fearful of his ing at Syrian missions in their coun-
nese Forces group, intercepted cars government. try, with a French Foreign Ministry
and buses plastered with pictures of “I came here to elect President Bashar official saying the elections are “null
Assad and carrying Syrian voters at Assad. This is a national duty,” said Even before the conflict, Syria’s role and void” and there is no point in
intersections in and around Beirut Ramzi Ahmad, a native of the central in Lebanon was deeply divisive. Syr- holding them.
and in the eastern Bekaa region. Syrian province of Homs. ian troops — deployed in Lebanon in
The attackers pelted them with rocks 1976, shortly after the civil war broke Syria has been engulfed in civil war
and smashed windows with sticks. Lebanon is home to over 1 million out — withdrew in 2005 following since 2011, when Arab Spring-in-
On the highway north of Beirut, one Syrians, the country hosting the larg- a U.N. resolution, after a 29-year spired protests against the Assad fam-
attacker poked a wooden stick inside est number of refugees per capita. domination of Lebanese politics. ily rule turned into an armed insur-
a car, while others smashed its wind- Their presence — nearly one Syr- gency in response to a brutal military
shield. In another attack, a Lebanese ian for every four Lebanese — has It’s a dilemma for Syrians living in crackdown. Around half a million
driver ran over a group of Syrians, weighed heavily on Lebanon’s infra- Lebanon. Many say they are not ready people have been killed and half the
hitting one man. There were no of- structure and resources, particularly to return home because of fear of country’s population has been dis-
ficial reports on how many were in- as the small country reels under an prosecution in the absence of a peace placed.

Fire west of Athens guts homes, sends smoke over Acropolis

(AP) — Firefighters in- and three helicopters were He said a lull in high winds east of Athens in July 2018,
tensified water drops us- involved to try to contain the The fire destroyed power had helped firefighters but around the seaside resort of
ing planes and helicopters blaze that started about 70 lines, causing widespread officials noted that winds of Mati, killed at least 102 peo-
before nightfall Thursday kilometers (45 miles) west blackouts, and reached a up to 60 kph (37 mph) were ple.
after a wildfire west of of Athens outside the resort nearby coastline and dam- expected later.
Athens forced hundreds to town of Loutraki. aged several fishing boats. Greece has requested the use
flee their homes and sent The Civil Protection Author- Wildfires are common dur- of a European Union satel-
a huge cloud of smoke But the drops would have to ity activated a cellphone-en- ing Greece’s hot summers. lite service to help assess the
and ash over the capital, stop overnight. abled alert service to help the A blaze that hit coastal areas damage.
obscuring the view of the evacuation effort.
Acropolis. “It’s going to be another diffi-
cult night and the conditions Fire department spokesman
The fire gutted and dam- will remain difficult. But Lt. Col. Vassilis Vathrakoyi-
aged dozens of houses as it we’re using all the resources annis said more than 250
tore through rugged terrain, we have on this,” Civil Pro- firefighters were deployed,
burning more than 2,000 tection chief Nikos Hardalias with their effort focused on
hectares (5,000 hectares) said. stopping the blaze reaching
of forest, authorities said. the town of Megara, where
Smoke from the fire was vis- On Thursday, authorities is- more than 30,000 people live.
ible across southern Greece sued evacuation orders for
and even on holiday islands 18 settlements, in areas with “The situation ... remains
in the Aegean Sea. many vacation homes. Two dangerous with fires rekin-
Orthodox Christian monas- dling at many locations,”
Fire department officials said teries and one convent were Vathrakoyiannis said.
17 water-dropping planes also evacuated.