“We are now looking at the third humanitarian crisis emerging in the region in just 12 months, amid a backdrop of numerous ongoing challenges,” said Angelita Caredda, the NGO’s regional director for Middle East and North Africa.
More than 276,000 Lebanese and Syrians living in Lebanon have fled to Syria, the NRC announced, including children who have been sent on their own. Many refugees who once left Syria seeking safety have now been forced to return home, where an existing humanitarian crisis is likely to escalate.
Prior to the conflict in Lebanon, poverty and suffering were rampant in Syria, a country roiled by a war since 2011. More than 90% of the population was living below the poverty line, according to the UN.
Three in every four people in Syria needed life-saving aid in May 2024 — the highest number since the war began, the head of the UN announced.
“Syria is already on its knees after 13 years of conflict. The mass displacement from Lebanon comes at a time when the aid response already cannot keep pace with existing needs,” added Caredda.
“Thousands of families crossing into Syria will struggle to find a safe place to stay or the basics their children need. This is a crisis within multiple crises.”
In recent weeks, Israel has mounted its bloody aerial assaults on Lebanon, causing the displacement of at least 1.3 million people, more than a fifth of the country’s population.
Almost 2,400 people have been killed and 11,000 others injured in Israeli aggression on Lebanon since early October 2023, according to Lebanon’s Public Health Ministry.
