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.
SQUAD
Ali Khaseif, Fahad Al Dhanhani, Adel Al Hosani, Mohammed Al Shamsi, Bandar Al Ahbabi, Mohammed Barghash, Salem Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Shaheen Abdulrahman, Hassan Al Mahrami, Walid Abbas, Mahmoud Khamis, Yousef Jaber, Saeed Ahmed, Majed Sorour, Majed Hassan, Ali Salmeen, Abdullah Ramadan, Khalil Al Hammadi, Fabio De Lima, Khalfan Mubarak, Tahnoun Al Zaabi, Ali Saleh, Caio Canedo, Muhammed Jumah, Ali Mabkhout, Sebastian Tagliabue, Zayed Al Ameri
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Sri Lanka v England
First Test, at Galle
England won by 211
Second Test, at Kandy
England won by 57 runs
Third Test, at Colombo
From Nov 23-27
PLAY-OFF%20DRAW
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Company profile: buybackbazaar.com
Name: buybackbazaar.com
Started: January 2018
Founder(s): Pishu Ganglani and Ricky Husaini
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech, micro finance
Initial investment: $1 million
The story in numbers
18
This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens
450,000
More than this many Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with about 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps
1.5 million
There are just under 1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UN, although the government puts the figure upwards of 1.5m
73
The percentage of stateless people in Lebanon, who are not of Palestinian origin, born to a Lebanese mother, according to a 2012-2013 study by human rights organisation Frontiers Ruwad Association
18,000
The number of marriages recorded between Lebanese women and foreigners between the years 1995 and 2008, according to a 2009 study backed by the UN Development Programme
77,400
The number of people believed to be affected by the current nationality law, according to the 2009 UN study
4,926
This is how many Lebanese-Palestinian households there were in Lebanon in 2016, according to a census by the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee
Kanye%20West
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RESULTS
Mumbai Indians 181-4 (20 ovs)
Kolkata Knight Riders 168-6 (20ovs)
Mumbai won by 13 runs
Rajasthan Royals 152-9 (20 ovs)
Kings XI Punjab 155-4 (18.4 ovs)
Kings XI Punjab won by 6 wickets
Results:
Men's wheelchair 800m T34: 1. Walid Ktila (TUN) 1.44.79; 2. Mohammed Al Hammadi (UAE) 1.45.88; 3. Isaac Towers (GBR) 1.46.46.
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
What to watch out for:
Algae, waste coffee grounds and orange peels will be used in the pavilion's walls and gangways
The hulls of three ships will be used for the roof
The hulls will painted to make the largest Italian tricolour in the country’s history
Several pillars more than 20 metres high will support the structure
Roughly 15 tonnes of steel will be used
