General Security Urges Palestinians from Syria to File Personal Documents in One Month

The General Security announced on Wednesday that Palestinians who have fled Syria to Lebanon should file their personal documents within a month.

It said that the papers should be filed at General Security stations starting Thursday.

Earlier in May, Human Rights Watch and a U.N. refugee agency expressed concern that Lebanon was blocking Palestinians fleeing strife-torn Syria from entering the country.

UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, said it was "concerned about the increased restrictions on Palestine refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria from entering Lebanon."

HRW, meanwhile, criticized Lebanon for refusing entry to Palestinians from Syria and returning them to the war-torn country.

It accused Lebanese authorities of "arbitrarily" denying entry and documented the deportation of around 40 Palestinians accused of having forged documents.

Lebanon has not announced a blanket ban on the entry of Palestinians from Syria, but government sources have confirmed a general policy to keep out Palestinians fleeing the conflict.

Among the more than one million refugees from Syria registered in Lebanon are around 52,000 Palestinian Syrians.