OMM Newsroom
A fire swept through a Syrian refugee camp in eastern Lebanon on Saturday, destroying all 59 tents that housed 75 families, witnesses said.
The blaze broke out in Bar Elias, in the Zahle district of the Bekaa Valley, where about 486 people were living, according to Anadolu Agency. The fire destroyed the entire camp, leaving hundreds of Syrian refugees without shelter.
No injuries were reported. Lebanese authorities had not commented on the cause of the fire.
Lebanon has hosted large numbers of Syrian refugees since the conflict in Syria began in 2011. Lebanese authorities estimated the number of Syrian refugees in the country at about 1.5 million in January, including nearly 880,000 registered with the UN refugee agency.
The Lebanese government launched a voluntary return program in June 2025 as part of broader efforts to facilitate Syrian refugees’ return to their country.
More than 500,000 Syrian refugees were confirmed or believed to have returned from Lebanon by the end of 2025, according to the annual report of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Nearly 240,300 of those returns were assessed as voluntary.
