LEBANESE JOIN MIGRANT FLOW TO EU

TRIPOLI: If he wasn’t making good money smuggling irregular migrants to the European Union by sea, Ibrahim himself might have joined the growing exodus from crisis-hit Lebanon.

“If I didn’t work in this profession, I would have left, just like so many other people,” said the 42-year-old trafficker, who asked to use a pseudonym when he spoke to AFP in the northern city of Tripoli.

“Maybe I would have turned to someone to smuggle me out,” he said, his face hidden by an antiCovid surgical mask and a hoodie.

Lebanon, in the throes of a brutal economic crisis, is no longer just a launchpad for Syrian refugees and other foreign migrants.

Its own desperate citizens now also risk drowning in the Mediterranean in their quest for a better life.

Ibrahim argues that, while having smuggled around 100 Lebanese nationals to Europe since 2019 makes him no angel, there is virtue in helping his compatriots.

“I get them out of here, out of this beggar’s life,” he said. “At least if they are put in a camp, they can eat and drink with dignity.”

Ibrahim said he took pride in taking only Lebanese nationals on his boats, and even then, only those who can produce civil registry documents.

“I get requests from Palestinians and Syrians, but I am responsible only for my own countrymen,” said Ibrahim, a former school bus driver whose tumbling income led him to people smuggling.

“There are many Lebanese who want to leave . ... They are ready to sell their houses, sell their cars, sell everything, just to make it out.”

Lebanon, a country of around six million people, is like a sinking ship, grappling with an unprecedented financial crisis that the World Bank says is on a scale usually associated with wars.

The currency has crashed, people’s purchasing power has plummeted and the monthly minimum wage is now worth $22.

The UN’s refugee agency UNHCR said at least 1,570 individuals, including 186 Lebanese nationals, had embarked or tried to embark on illicit sea journeys from Lebanon between January and November 2021.

Most were hoping to reach European Union member Cyprus, an island 175 kilometers (109 miles) away.

This is up from 270 passengers, including 40 Lebanese in 2019, UNHCR spokesperson Lisa Abou Khaled told AFP.

“In previous years, the vast majority of passengers were Syrians, while in 2020 and 2021, a notable number of Lebanese joined these movements,” she said.