Human Rights Watch condemned on Tuesday the Syrian regime over a recent law it approved that is aimed at redeveloping areas devastated by seven years of war.
The rights watchdog charged the regime with passing laws to allow itself to seize private property, displace residents and discourage refugees from returning to the war-battered country.
The latest such bill, known as Law 10, empowers authorities to confiscate property without compensating the owners or giving them an opportunity to appeal.
The regime passed Law 10 in April to create "redevelopment zones" to rebuild property damaged in the seven years of civil war.
Lebanon had last week expressed concern over the law.
Prime Minister Saad Hariri said the law "tells thousands of Syrian families to stay in Lebanon" by threatening them with property confiscation.
Lebanon hosts more than a million Syrian refugees and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil expressed concern over the limited time frame given for refugees to prove possession of their properties.
He said it could impede the return of Syrian refugees to their homes.
"The inability of the refugees to practically present what proves their possession (of their properties) during the given time limit might lead to them losing their properties and their sense of national identity," Bassil said in a letter to his Syrian counterpart Walid al-Muallem.
HRW released a report on Tuesday saying the regime also passed two previous laws, in 2012, letting authorities seize property and assets without due process.
The New York-based watchdog says the Damascus regime has a record of using these laws to demolish neighborhoods that opposed Bashar Assad's rule.
Bassil had sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, calling for action to protect the rights of Syrian refugees in maintaining their properties.
