Throwing money at irregular migration will not make it go away, Cyprus said on Monday, saying the EU needed to take a holistic approach and rethink a ban on deportations to Syria.
Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides, Reuters/Juan Medina
Throwing money at irregular migration will not make it go away, Cyprus said on Monday, saying the EU needed to take a holistic approach and rethink a ban on deportations to Syria.
Cyprus has seen a spike in irregular migration in recent years, either by sea from neighbouring Syria and Lebanon, or via a now-closed loophole via a ceasefire line splitting the island.
"If we really want to deal with the migration issue its not through money, or actions to deal with the phenomenon itself. It has to be through assessing the root causes and cooperating with countries where migrants come from," Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said.
Cyprus lies about 100 miles (185 km) west of Lebanon and Syria. Last year it saw arrivals more than quadruple from both countries, fanning fears in Nicosia of a surge if tensions in the Middle East engulf the broader region.
An EU member since 2004 and the closest to the Middle East, Nicosia wants the bloc to consider declaring parts of war-ravaged Syria safe, which would allow authorities to repatriate people arriving from there.
"I'm aware of the sensitivities around this," said Christodoulides. "There are areas in Syria where we have to examine whether they are safe, and by extension, if migrants from those specific areas can be returned.
I don't think its right for the EU not to discuss this," he said.
Reporting By Michele Kambas
Apparent U.S.-Israeli airstrikes hit a headquarters of Iraq's umbrella group for Iran-backed Shi'ite militia and a residence belonging to its leader on Tuesday, an escalation of U.S.-Israeli strikes on one of Tehran's main regional allies.
Iran launched multiple waves of missiles at Israel on Tuesday, the Israeli military said, after U.S. President Donald Trump postponed the bombing of the Islamic Republic's power plants and other energy infrastructure because of what he described as productive talks with Iranian officials.
An Israeli precision strike hit a residential apartment building in Hazmieh - a predominantly Christian neighborhood east of Beirut - Monday afternoon, killing at least one person in what the IDF described as a targeted hit on a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' elite Al-Quds Force.
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