The Beirut Sports City stadium complex housing tents, March 7, 2026. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Social Affairs Minister Hanine Sayed announced Saturday that Beirut Sports City will be opened Saturday evening as a shelter.
"Thanks to the significant efforts of associations, the Red Cross and the Beirut municipality, Sports City will be opened tonight as a shelter center for families registered with the Beirut municipality," the minister said.
This decision comes after mass evacuations from South Lebanon, the Bekaa, and the southern suburbs of Beirut this week, following a wave of Israeli strikes on these areas that pushed several hundred thousand people to flee to areas deemed safer.
According to Sayed, the total number of displaced people in shelter centers currently stands at 112,525 people distributed across 514 centers. In addition, about 454,000 displaced people have registered via the relief-mosa.com platform. The minister also called on all those who have not yet registered to do so.
She added that the North Governorate is ready to provide the necessary needs and services, including transportation, to accommodate more displaced people. The number of displaced people in the North has already surpassed 5,000, while the shelter capacity could reach 15,000 people.
She also noted that teams on the ground are urging citizens to head toward the north and Akkar, where shelter centers have greater capacities and are not overcrowded.
"We know that some families prefer to stay in their cars to remain close to their homes. However, we do not accept that any family remains in a car or on the street as long as we are able to provide them with safe shelter," the minister declared.
Regarding food security, Sayed said the food sector within the operations room is running at full capacity. Hot meals and food assistance are being distributed in different regions of Lebanon in cooperation with organizations and associations, "with a progressive increase in quantities to meet growing needs."
