Syrian refugees took shelter at the municipal headquarters of Tal Bireh, in Akkar, on March 10, 2025. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Lebanese Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed said, "the time is very opportune" for Syrian refugees to return to their country, as discussions on the issue intensify between Beirut and Damascus. She also revealed in an interview with Al-Akhbar on Saturday that Lebanon will receive an initial $250 million tranche from the World Bank in April to "rehabilitate infrastructure" damaged by the war between Hezbollah and Israel.
Sayed estimated that 24 percent of Syrian refugees in Lebanon — about 400,000 people out of a total of more than 1.5 million, according to U.N. estimates — are prepared to return to Syria if provided with resettlement assistance.
Return plan
"I have asked the UNHCR to develop a return plan and implement it using the budget allocated for the humanitarian response to Syrian refugees in Lebanon. (...) I estimate the cost of the first phase of this plan to be about $200 million," Sayed said, adding that part of this funding could come from aid currently provided to refugees in Lebanon.
"The refugees receive assistance, some of which we can use to facilitate their voluntary return," she explained.
Sayed emphasized that this "voluntary return" would be to "reception areas" suitable for resettlement. "We need to identify reception areas in Syria, cover transportation costs, and ensure financial support for families for the first four to five months after their return," she said.
The project is being overseen by an interministerial commission that includes the ministries of foreign affairs, justice, social affairs, labor, interior, and defense, in coordination with the UNHCR.
"The UNHCR often says the time is not right for their return, but its president, Filippo Grandi, assured me that we are on the same page on this matter," she added.
New wave of refugees in Akkar
Sayed also addressed the recent influx of Syrian refugees following the massacres in early March in the Alawite region on Syria’s coast. The violence, which left more than 1,500 civilians dead — mostly Alawites, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) — prompted at least 15,479 Syrians to flee to Lebanon. The refugees have settled in 24 Alawite-majority localities in Akkar, in northern Lebanon, where they are staying with host families or in makeshift shelters, according to the latest report from Lebanon’s Disaster Management Room.
"Lebanon is not a country of permanent asylum but of transit, and this rule must apply to all groups," Sayed said.
"We have welcomed refugees fleeing the former Syrian regime, but after 14 years without a return plan, we must learn from this experience. The situation in Syria remains uncertain, but it is possible that the new regime will be able to include all factions," she added.
Rebuilding war-damaged infrastructure
Regarding the reconstruction of areas destroyed by Israeli airstrikes during the 2023-24 war between Hezbollah and Israel, Sayed said Lebanon will receive a $250 million tranche from the World Bank in April to "rehabilitate infrastructure." The government is also seeking additional funding through new donor conferences.
Sayed aims to reduce Lebanese families’ reliance on social assistance by promoting economic empowerment. Her goal is to "create job opportunities and enhance the skills of beneficiaries" through training and access to microcredits.
She also announced plans to overhaul the Aman program, Lebanon’s main aid initiative for low-income families, by tightening fraud controls and prioritizing the most vulnerable households.
