The escalation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah since September 2024, and Israel’s bombing of civilian areas throughout Lebanon, have unleashed a profound humanitarian catastrophe.
The mass displacement of over 1 million folks, together with Lebanese residents, migrant staff and Syrian and Palestinian refugees, has created a disaster inside Lebanon. But an equally important phenomenon is going on away from Lebanon’s southern border with Israel: the motion of people that have been displaced inside Lebanon into Syria.
An estimated 400,000 Lebanese and Syrians have reportedly fled into Syria by way of overcrowded border crossings.
To not be confused with return, this motion represents a reversal of the refugee stream that adopted the descent of Syria into civil battle in 2011. It’s also emblematic of a broader sample of cyclical displacement crises within the area.
The complicated and intertwined histories of Lebanon and Syria – the place every has at numerous factors been a refuge for residents of the opposite – problem the straightforward binaries usually related to the refugee expertise.
The alternate of roles between Lebanon and Syria highlights not solely the fragility of regional stability however the fluidity of displacement – and the deeper implications that cross-border motion has on the sociopolitical dynamics of each international locations.
A historical past of reciprocal refuge
The relationship between Lebanon and Syria has lengthy been complicated, oscillating between cooperation and rigidity. Regardless of Syria’s official withdrawal from Lebanon in 2005 after many years as an occupying pressure, the 2 international locations stay linked as a consequence of shared borders, financial ties and safety issues. Cooperation exists in areas reminiscent of commerce, however there’s important rigidity, particularly over the presence of over 1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
But, all through their trendy histories, one of the enduring bonds has been the shared experiences of displacement and refuge, relationship again to Lebanon’s civil battle. From 1975 to 1990, hundreds of Lebanese fled to Syria to flee the sectarian-driven battle that engulfed their homeland.
The post-war interval, nevertheless, was marked by a shift within the dynamics between the 2 international locations. The 2005 withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon marked a brand new chapter of their relations.
Tensions rose as Lebanon sought to rebuild and assert its sovereignty after practically 30 years of Syrian occupation. But, the area’s tendency for upheaval quickly noticed the roles reversed once more many years later, when an estimated 180,000 Lebanese took refuge in Syria through the 2006 July battle.
With the onset of the Syrian civil battle in 2011, it was Lebanon’s flip to function a refuge. By 2015, 1 million Syrians fleeing violence made the journey into Lebanon.
Regardless of being one of many 44 international locations by no means to have signed the 1951 Refugee Conference, Lebanon is the nation internet hosting the most important variety of refugees per capita globally.
As a result of Lebanon didn’t signal the conference, it doesn’t formally acknowledge refugee standing, which supplies the nation what it views as extra management over its refugee insurance policies. Whereas Lebanon receives humanitarian help from the United Nations’ refugee company, refugees stay in a precarious authorized standing, with restricted rights.
For a lot of Lebanese, this most up-to-date inflow of fleeing Syrian refugees has rekindled reminiscences of their very own displacement, whereas for others, it has fueled anti-refugee sentiments.
Bouncing between 2 war-torn international locations
With the newest escalation of the Israel-Hezbollah battle, historical past is once more repeating itself. Lebanese residents, primarily from Hezbollah strongholds in South Lebanon and the Beqaa Valley, are in search of refuge in Syria, a rustic nonetheless grappling with its personal financial collapse, violence and inner strife.
Whereas the battle on Lebanese territory has gone on for greater than a yr, actions into Syria solely picked up in late September 2024 as folks have grow to be extra determined to flee.
As one displaced individual compelled to flee from Beirut defined to me: “Syria was definitely not a ‘higher’ possibility than Lebanon six months in the past, however within the final week, because the assaults on Beirut and political assassinations, Syria is safer – regardless of every part it’s going by way of. That’s how unsafe we really feel in Beirut – we’re bouncing between one war-torn nation and one other.”
Implications for refugee-host dynamics
The cyclical nature of displacement between Lebanon and Syria overturns the prevailing political narrative of host-refugee dynamics being mounted and unidirectional.
Syrian displacement to Lebanon has been portrayed by some Lebanese politicians as one-directional. This seems to be with the intention to body Syrian refugees as the only real recipients of help – versus Lebanese residents – in addition to burdens on Lebanon.
When displacement happens in each instructions, nevertheless, this narrative begins to interrupt down.
Syrian refugees who as soon as sought security in Lebanon now see their residence nation as a safer haven – albeit a fragile and momentary one. In the meantime, Lebanese residents face the similar sorts of vulnerability and desperation that their Syrian counterparts skilled over the previous decade.
Importantly, testimonies from those that are making the journey from their ‘momentary’ residence in Lebanon again to Syria spotlight that these actions shouldn’t be mistaken for return. Relatively, they’re in themselves a short lived resolution.
As one Syrian who had fled his Lebanese residence defined to me: “No, I’m not returning. I’m relatively leaving one foot in Lebanon and one in Syria. Syria is by no means a protected place. As males, we’re liable to arrest and compelled conscription. Nonetheless, Lebanon is momentarily, at this level in historical past, a lot much less protected. We do that evaluation week by week. I despatched my spouse and my kids first. I’ll observe.”
For his or her half, internally displaced Lebanese getting into into Syria insist that these actions are “completely momentary.” One informed me: “Syria just isn’t international to us. It feels shut and acquainted. However most significantly, it feels momentary and is the appropriate proximity to Lebanon. As quickly as issues relax we are going to come again to our properties. Many people don’t have anything to return to, however even on this case, we won’t stay in Syria.”
The pressure of displacement
Each Lebanon and Syria are, in some ways, ill-equipped to deal with the brand new wave of displacement.
Ratib Al Safadi/Anadolu Company by way of Getty Photos
By 2023, Lebanon’s financial collapse had pushed 80% of its inhabitants into poverty, making it practically inconceivable to soak up the extra pressure of mass inner displacement.
Authorities paralysis, compounded by political impasse, leaves internally displaced folks with little to no state help, principally relying on help and neighborhood networks to outlive.
Syria, although within the place of “host” on this present migratory stream, is equally constrained. The nation’s infrastructure stays devastated from greater than a decade of civil battle. Primary providers are stretched skinny, and the financial system has not recovered. Humanitarian organizations coordinating the response are working amid overextended assets and dwindling help.
A area in perpetual chaos
Because the armed battle between Israel and Hezbollah escalates, the displacement disaster in Lebanon and Syria will, I worry, possible worsen.
The latest wave of Syrian refugees and Lebanese into Syria reveals the cyclical nature of refuge within the area. In the end, the continued displacement disaster in Lebanon and Syria serves as a reminder that refuge is commonly momentary, contingent on the shifting geopolitics of the area.
The histories of those two international locations, the place each have served as havens for the opposite’s displaced populations, underscore the complexity of displacement within the Center East.
The truth that Lebanese residents are actually in search of shelter in Syria, a rustic from which over 1 million refugees fled simply over a decade in the past, underscores the volatility of regional displacement patterns. It additionally raises crucial questions concerning the sustainability of worldwide refugee programs that too usually depend on static, one-directional fashions of migration and don’t account for the fluid and infrequently reversible nature of displacement.