Lebanon blocks migrants attempting sea crossing

Cyprus 'will send a team to Lebanon to discuss crossing attempts' by those fleeing the economic and political crisis

A UN boat approaches a boat overcrowded with migrants in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Lebanon in 2018. AP

The Lebanese army on Tuesday prevented a group of Syrians and their Lebanese handlers from leaving the country illegally by sea from the northern city of Tripoli, the official ANI news agency reported.

"A Lebanese army naval patrol, in coordination with army intelligence, thwarted an operation to smuggle several people across the sea after the boat was spotted off the northern coast," ANI reported.

The Lebanese and Syrian passengers were returned to Tripoli port, it said.

It was the second failed clandestine attempt within days by people seeking to leave the country via Tripoli.

On Saturday, a boat illegally carrying Lebanese and Syrians was intercepted off the coast of Cyprus to the west, and forced to turn back.

On Monday, Cyprus said it would send a team to Lebanon to discuss dealing with the increasingly frequent crossing attempts.

Interior Minister Nicos Nouris said that Cyprus officials will visit Lebanon “to deal in the best and most effective way with this phenomenon.”

Cyprus and Lebanon have a “send back” agreement to try and prevent a large number of small boats carrying migrants from reaching Cypriot waters.

Cyprus is only 160 kilometres from Lebanon's coast – so close that the deadly explosion that devastated Beirut on August 4 was heard on the island.

With the EU’s highest number of first-time asylum seekers per capita of population, it fears becoming a haven for those fleeing a political and economic crisis in Lebanon.

Mr Nouris said that reception centres are full and “we are no longer able to receive additional numbers of economic migrants."

Cyprus is on alert after at least five boats carrying more than 150 migrants were spotted off the coast of the tourist island by authorities in recent days. Some were allowed to disembark, but others were sent back to Lebanon in a boat chartered by Cypriot authorities.

Lebanon, which hosts about a million people displaced from neighbouring war-torn Syria, was undergoing a severe economic crisis even before the coronavirus pandemic struck.

That was exacerbated by the massive explosion at Beirut port, which laid waste to whole neighbourhoods of the capital and killed over 190 people.