...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...to help authorities stop boats with
Officials from various services will visit Lebanon "to deal in the best and most effective way with this phenomenon," Interior Minister Nicos Nouris said.
Cyprus, just 160 kilometres (100 miles) from Lebanon's coast, is so close that the deadly explosion that devastated Beirut on August 4 was heard on the island. Syria is even nearer.
Cyprus is on alert after at least five boats carrying over 150
Many of those on board were Syrians, as well as Lebanese. Some were permitted to disembark, but others were sent back.
Cypriot authorities chartered a boat to take a group back to Lebanon with an escort.
Lebanon, which hosts a million Syrian refugees, was already reeling from its worst economic crisis in decades before the cataclysmic explosion in the port of Beirut.
Nearby Nicosia fears becoming a magnet for those fleeing a political and economic crisis.
European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
member Cyprus and Lebanon have a "send back" agreement to discourage
Cyprus has long complained it is on the frontline of the Mediterranean migration route, with the EU's highest number of first-time asylum seekers per capita of population.