UN: 12,000 Syrian refugees now in Lebanon

There are now around 12,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon, according to the UN refugee agency in its latest weekly report. While only 7,088 refugees are registered in the north of Lebanon – with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and Lebanon’s Higher Relief Council – the report also acknowledges that there are around 4,000 unregistered refugees in the Bekaa Valley, and “approximately 1,000 more receiving assistance from the UNHCR and partners in other parts of Lebanon,” including south of Beirut. Last Sunday, Lebanese politicians and aid workers reported that up to 2,000 refugees had fled across the border, following an intensive government crackdown on the Syrian city of Homs, but Friday’s UNHCR report says: “Last weekend more Syrians crossed with some 50 families arriving in Arsal, and 170 families in Fakha village. According to the mayor of Arsal, there are an additional 75 families in Mashariia Al Qaa.” However, it adds, “some NGOs place the number at twice that amount,” with the most reliable estimates pointing to a total of 4,000 refugees across the Bekaa Valley. UNHCR is currently working toward verifying the current numbers. The UN estimates that around 25,000 Syrians have fled the country over the last year. While the security situation in Wadi Khaled has remained calm this week, the report says, many refugees “express concern [over] the reported presence of land mines on the Syrian side of the border.” In terms of shelter, the report states that “the majority of displaced Syrians are residing in houses, rooms, barns and huts made available by the local communities,” with around 200 living in collective shelters, such as abandoned and recently renovated schools. The UNHCR and its partners are currently carrying out in-depth mapping to identify further such collective shelter sites, the report adds. Elsewhere Friday, in what has become a weekly practice, worshippers at the Hamza Mosque in the northern city of Tripoli marched in condemnation of Syrian President Bashar Assad and his year-long crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. Marching from the Qibbeh neighborhood to nearby Ibn Sina Square after Friday prayers, the protesters chanted slogans against the Assad regime, which is thought to have killed well over 7,500 people so far, according to the UN. Delivering Friday’s sermon at the mosque, Sheikh Zakarias Masri said that Syrians must arm themselves. “It has become the right of the Syrian people – even their duty – to resort to arms [when] facing these horrible crimes [by the Syrian regime] in order to protect their religion,” he said. Also in Tripoli, donations for the Syrian people were collected from worshippers at the Taqwa Mosque, where Friday’s sermon was delivered by Sheikh Ahmad, who hails from the Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs, an opposition stronghold until last week’s crackdown. Donations were also collected outside most other mosques in the northern city.