The government in Nicosia called in Tuesday, Beirut to comply with the commitments made to the European Union to deal with illegal migration, BNR reported.
The new tension between the two countries was caused by the request of the leader of "Hezbollah" Hassan Nasrallah asked the Lebanese authorities to let the boats with Syrian migrants to Cyprus. The leader of Lebanon's powerful Shiite movement said the country's leadership must make a "national decision" and to "open the sea for anyone who wants to go to Europe, to Cyprus, the closest country from the European Union to the Middle East". He also demanded that the Lebanese parliament exert pressure on the European Union and the United States to lift the sanctions against Damascus.
His statement was made on the eve of the resumption of "voluntary returns" of Syrians from Lebanon in their homeland and before the annual summit on Syria planned for May 27 in Brussels.
The Lebanese government has commitments agreed with the European Union that it must fulfill in order to receive the promised financial support, said the spokesman of the government of Cyprus Konstantinos Lethimbiotis.
During her visit to Beirut on 2 May together with Cypriot President Nicos Christodoulidis, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the EU is providing Lebanon with €1 billion for socio-economic reforms and preventing illegal migrant flows to Cyprus.