06-05-2025
Rajji promises to solve issue of missing Lebanese in Syria
BEIRUT — Minister of Foreign Affairs, Joe Rajji, stressed on Tuesday that 'the file of the missing Lebanese in Syria is his priority and promised to 'do everything necessary" to solve this issue during a meeting met with a delegation from the National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared, according to the state-run National News Agency.
The delegation included the committee's acting president Ziad Ashour and members Widad Halwani, Carmen Abu Joudeh and Adib Nehme.
Some of the victims of forced disappearance, have been missing since the civil war (1975-1990) while others disappeared in the years that followed. The fall of the former Syrian regime in Dec.2024 raised their families' hopes of finally finding them — whether dead or alive.
The delegation briefed Raji on the work of the commission and the challenges it faces, emphasizing their need for the support of the government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the relevant ministers to enable the commission to exercise its tasks in uncovering the fate of the missing Lebanese in Syria and Lebanon, whose number is still not final and needs to be verified.
The delegation members pointed out the importance of separating this humanitarian file from politics and demanded that 'the Commission be represented in the Lebanese Syrian joint committee to be formed, which will follow up on all pending files between the two countries.'
For his part, Rajji said that he will work to "remove any diplomatic or political obstacle that may stand in the way of this file.'
He told the delegation that he was preparing a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Ahmad al-Shibani to hand him the file, which is being prepared by the Ministry of Justice, noting that the Syrian side has expressed every willingness to help clarify the fate of the missing Lebanese.
