Syrian refugees sitting in grass after the dismantling of their camp in Bar Elias on Thursday. (Credit: photo sent by a Bar Elias camp resident to our correspondent in the Bekaa)
BEIRUT — Sheikhs and public figures in the Bekaa region succeeded in preventing a Syrian refugee camp in Marj from being dismantled on Wednesday night, after three suspects, who took refuge in the camp, were arrested for murdering a man in Azzouniyeh (Aley district) on Tuesday, according to our correspondent in the region.
L'Orient Today had initially reported that two informal Syrian refugee camps were dismantled on Wednesday, one in Bar Elias and the other in Marj. However, while both camps were raided by army intelligence and State Security on Tuesday night, only Bar Elias was leveled. The murder suspects, who took refuge in the Marj camp before their arrest, were living in the Bar Elias camp.
While the Marj camp remains intact, refugees who were living in Bar Elias have been left sitting on the grass, not knowing what to do, one resident told our correspondent.
Citing a local source in the Marj camp, our correspondent reported that Syrian refugees were preparing to leave the camp on Wednesday. Then clerics and public figures in the region intervened and the issue was resolved overnight. On Wednesday night, Sheikh Walid Kanaan addressed a crowd of people near the Marj camp, saying that one person's wrongdoing does not justify the forceful expulsion of hundreds of refugees from the camp.
According to our correspondent, the Bar Elias camp consisted of around 15 tents, while the Marj camp was larger, with almost 100 tents housing displaced families.
Those arrested are suspected of robbing and killing a 60-year-old man in an apartment in Azzouniyeh. The Lebanese Army announced the arrests, saying two of the suspects confessed to participating in the murder of Yasser al-Koukash.
On Thursday, the army said that it arrested "two Syrians (A.K.) and (A.A.)" for their involvement in the crime "while they were attempting to flee to Syria illegally ... in the [border village] of Masnaa."
Tension over the presence of Syrian refugees in Lebanon has peaked since the kidnapping and murder of Lebanese Forces (LF) executive Pascal Sleiman in Jbeil on April 7 by Syrian suspects.
Around 1.5 million Syrians live in Lebanon, making it the country with the highest refugee population per capita in the world. Some 800,000 of them are registered with the UN. Lebanese officials regularly call on their repatriation, despite the cases presented by NGOs and rights groups detailing how many Syrians who attempt a return are detained or conscripted into the military. More than 4,000 civilians and combatants were killed in Syria in 2023, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.