The atmosphere across Lebanon is heated following this week's killing of Pascal Suleiman, a local politician belonging to the Christian nationalist Lebanese Forces party.

On Sunday, Suleiman was kidnapped and killed near Byblos, some 38 kilometers north of Lebanon's capital Beirut. On Monday, his body was found across the border in Syria.

Lebanese officials allege that the slaying was part of a car theft, but Suleiman's party suspects political motives.

Some sections of the population, however, have started blaming the country's large contingent of Syrian refugees.

A myriad of footage on social media shows angry crowds yelling at Syrians to leave their shops and houses, and return to Syria.

Other videos show Syrians being beaten, while cars and motorbikes with Syrian license plates are smashed up.

"We haven't left the house for two days and we are so, so scared," Abu Mustafa, a Syrian refugee in Byblos told DW. "I don't know what to do for my family. I don't dare to step onto the street," he added.

"We didn't do anything, so why do people think it is our fault?" Abed, a Syrian man in Byblos, asked DW.

Lebanon's caretaker interior minister Bassam Mawlawi has meanwhile urged the population "to be rational" and show "restraint."

However, he also stated at a press conference on Tuesday that the "Syrian presence in Lebanon must be limited," without........

© Deutsche Welle