Jaafarite mufti Ahmad Kabalan. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Mufti Ahmad Kabalan, head of Lebanon's highest Shiite religious council, and who is close to Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, slammed the European Union's decision to give Lebanon $1 billion in aid, in a statement released Friday.
While visiting Lebanon on Thursday, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen announced $1 billion in aid for the country, designed to strengthen basic services such as education and health. Explicit in the deal was the understanding that Lebanon would, in turn, tackle illegal migration from Lebanese shores into Europe.
According to a statement released by state-run National News Agency, Kabalan described the European aid as "a billion poisoned euros," and said that Europe should bear the weight of hosting Syrian migrants just as Lebanon does, blaming Europe for contributing to the conditions in Syria that caused more than half of the population to become displaced.
"Europe is Washington's partner in the devastation in Syria and the siege on Lebanon," he said.
Politicians of all stripes regularly call for the repatriation and deportation of Syrians, of which there are an estimated 1.5 million who fled to Lebanon as refugees from the war in Syria, which continues to ravage parts of the country more than a decade later.
"The issue of displacement urgently needs to be resolved ... [the] country's demography, stability, security, economic situation and livelihood are under threat," Kabalan said.
Kabalan also stressed on the importance of preserving security in the country and the coexistence between Christians and Muslims.
He also said that the current priorities are to "protect national sovereignty and to finalize a presidential settlement." Lebanon has been without a president since former president Michel Aoun left office in October 2022.