Lebanese Army issues eviction orders to 10,000 Syrian refugees

The Lebanese army issued eviction orders to over 10,000 Syrian refugees on Friday, claiming that the camps are near an air force base in the Bekaa valley.

“The army has issued eviction notices to more than 10,000 refugees in the Bekaa, without a clear plan for where they will go. As Lebanese leaders in Brussels tout Lebanon’s humanitarian achievements and call for more aid, refugees here are living in fear of losing their homes,” Deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, Lama Fakih, said.

Lebanon currently houses over 1.5 million Syrian refugees in makeshift camps scattered across the country – almost half the Lebanese population.

“1,400 refugees have been reported to have left the camps already,” Lebanon Researcher for HRW, Bassam Khawaja, told Al Arabiya English.

“None of these individuals have places to go, they have very limited resources to survive, especially given the fact that most are below the poverty line and in debt.”

This order applies to up to 90 camps distributed across the villages of Dalhamiya, Riaq, Tannin al-Fawqa, Tanim al-Tahta and Hosh al-Ghanam.

Last week, Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said Lebanon was close to “breaking point” due to the strains of hosting this many Syrian refugees.

“I am going ... to make sure that the world understands that Lebanon is on the verge of a breaking point,” he said.

source: Alarabiya