The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Barham Saleh (on the right in the foreground in the photo), received by Interior Minister Ahmad Hajjar (on the left) at the ministry, on April 15, 2026. (Photo: NNA)
BEIRUT — The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Barham Saleh, while on a visit to destroyed part of Lebanon, announced Wednesday that he had launched an urgent appeal for $308 million in aid for the country.
Israel's renewed escalation of war against Lebanon on March 2 and its relentless attacks on the South, the Bekaa, and the southern suburbs of Beirut, as well as other regions, have caused the forced displacement of more than 1.2 million people from their homes and a dire humanitarian situation.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam welcomed Saleh at the Grand Serail, who was accompanied by Rema Jamous Imseis, director of the MENA region at the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR), and the Lebanon representative, Karolina Lindholm Billing. Saleh and his delegation had previously been received by the President of Parliament, Nabih Berri, at Ain al-Tineh
At the Grand Serail, Saleh, elected to his post in December 2025, expressed his solidarity with the people and the state of Lebanon "in these difficult circumstances." He said he had witnessed the significant destruction in Lebanon, and had met with displaced people in reception centers in the Bekaa and in Beirut. "The international community is called upon to support Lebanon," he continued, specifying that he had "launched an urgent appeal at the United Nations for $308 million in aid, as well as asking the High Commissioner to provide $61 million." He added, "We have secured part of this aid and we are currently distributing it. Upon my return to Geneva, I will be working to raise additional funds."
Saleh explained that his agency, like other U.N. agencies, is currently providing assistance. "But the challenge is considerable, and so is the suffering, and there is a need for additional aid, hence my call for the international community to provide greater support to Lebanon and its people in these dramatic circumstances, because they deserve to have us stand by their side," he insisted.
This new major humanitarian crisis adds to prior crises, such as the economic collapse since 2019 and the influx of Syrian displaced people since 2011, a file in which UNHCR has been very involved in recent years.
Hajjar: Our main concern is a cease-fire
The UNHCR delegation was also received by the Interior Minister, Ahmad Hajjar. Following the meeting, he stated that "Lebanon's main concern at the moment is to achieve a cease-fire," stressing "the importance of friendly countries in helping achieve this," as well as the role of U.N. agencies in supporting the Lebanese state in the face of the forced displacement of more than a million people.
For his part, Saleh reiterated "his full solidarity with Lebanon and its people in these difficult circumstances." He assured that he was "working for international support to raise the necessary aid."
The issue of Syrian displaced people was addressed during this discussion, with a focus on strengthening cooperation between UNHCR and Lebanon for the secure return of these people to their homes in Syria. This issue has often been a source of tension between the state and UNHCR, the former accusing the latter of not facilitating the return of these displaced people, who have now exceeded 1.5 million, while UNHCR has said it prioritizes their safety, which has been compromised by the war in that country, sparked by protests in 2011. Since the regime change in Syria in December 2024 and the departure of leaders who could pose a threat to these displaced people, around 500,000 Syrians have returned home according to figures from the Ministry of Social Development, but many others remain in Lebanon for multiple reasons, notably economic ones, or because they don't have homes to return to in Syria.
