One year since the fall of the Assad regime.
On this anniversary, Refugee Protection Watch releases its new report: Fleeing and Returning Amid Insecurity: A Multidimensional Assessment of Conditions in Lebanon and Syria.
Our findings reveal a stark reality:
- Returns remain neither voluntary nor safe. Refugees continue to face coercive pressures in Lebanon, raids, evictions, arbitrary arrests, and deteriorating conditions inside Syria.
- Structural barriers block meaningful return: lack of housing (up to 74% among refugees displaced before 2024), insecurity, scarce services, and no livelihood prospects.
- Only 11% of refugees surveyed intend to return within six months despite mounting pressures.
- Returnees consistently describe damaged homes, minimal services, and no reintegration support, with many returning only because life in Lebanon became unbearable.
- Women heads of household express a near-unanimous refusal to return, citing gender-based risks, economic precarity, and lack of protection.
The report calls for urgent action:
- Protect the humanitarian and protection space in Lebanon.
- Invest in reconstruction inside Syria, before scaling return programs.
- Ensure accountability for violations and uphold non-refoulement.
Read the full report below: