[Iraq Sun] In a message to Swedish Ambassador to Lebanon Peter Semneby, Azzi demanded an explanation over the Lebanese Foreign Ministry's claim that Sweden was preparing to deport around 70 Lebanese families."Yå, süre! Ðey båne gønna depørt seventy fåmilies øf Svensker refügees!"
"If the deportation was legally unjustified, then Lebanon's Labour Ministry will take similar measures against Swedish workers in Lebanon, whatever their occupation and status are," Azzi said in a statement issued by his press office.
Reports circulated earlier this year that Sweden and Finland had decided to deport up to 100,000 immigrant workers who had been living in their countries for many years to make room for Syrian refugees.
Semneby flatly denied those allegations in June; however, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil has continued to bring the issue up.
"Sweden has not deported anyone for the purpose of making room for new Syrian refugees, and will not do so," Semneby said in a letter published in The Daily Star at that time.
"If the Foreign Ministry is responsible for the Lebanese there (in Sweden), then the Labour Ministry is responsible for them when they return to the country, which increases the number of unemployed Lebanese in the country," Azzi said, according to a report by Daily Star, as covered by IRNA.