Intolerable conditions in Lebanon are pushing increasing numbers of Syrians to take to the sea. With all eyes on escalating violence in southern Lebanon, the number of Syrians leaving from the north over the past two months reached more than four times the number for the same period in 2022.
After years of violations, HTS aims to adopt a new policy of openness towards Idlib’s minorities, returning some seized properties and encouraging Christians and Druze to return. Still, discrimination persists and the hardline group has not compensated property owners for years of losses.
Syria’s fronts with Israel remain relatively quiet, while intensified Israeli strikes and mobilization by Iran-linked forces in the country leave the door open to increased escalation.
Syrian children are among the hardest hit as Lebanon’s public education system falters under the weight of economic crisis and dwindling funding.
Amid fears of war between Israel and Hamas spiraling into a regional conflagration, analysts weigh the impact of regional players and assess the likelihood of another front in Syria.
A wave of swift door-to-border deportations is terrorizing Syrians in Lebanon, with more than 1,100 refugees arrested and 600 deported in April.
Four of the five Lebanese State Security officers indicted last November for the torture death of Syrian refugee Bashar Abdul Saud were released on bail this month, one of whom is back at work, while the victim’s family and lawyer have been pressured to drop their complaint.
Alaa fled to Germany at 16, after her brother was disappeared by Syrian government forces. She hoped to bring her parents later, but her reunification request was denied. She has not seen her parents for seven years, and has never met her six-year-old brother.
The lawyer representing the family of Bashar Al-saud, a Syrian refugee allegedly tortured to death by Lebanese State Security officers in August, called the indictment a “bold and historic” decision.
Facing a budget shortfall, the UN Refugee Agency and the World Food Program are cutting monthly cash assistance for some Syrian refugees in Lebanon, many of whom already live in extreme poverty.
