Paris, France
On 28 February 2026, the United States and Israel launched a significant military operation against Iran – a war considered illegal under both US and international armed conflict laws without the legal conditions of UN Security Council authorization nor meeting the necessary conditions of “self-defence” or ““imminent threat”. The attacks have escalated into regional fallout with Israeli attacks on Lebanon beginning on 01 March following limited attacks by Hezbollah. This has led to internal tensions within Lebanon’s political establishment with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announcing a “ban” all Hezbollah military activities — stating activities were illegal and demanding the group hand over all its weapons and become a purely political organisation.[1]
Israel has continued to escalate attacks on Lebanon with widespread airstrikes launched against areas in South Lebanon, Dahieh and Bekaa, which are still ongoing[2]. Israel has also issued several evacuation warnings in different areas of Lebanon including recently to civilians residing south of the Litani river (an area that amounts to approximately 8% of the country), leading to a mass exode of civilians including Syrian refugees seeking to flee the area. Evacuation warnings issued by the Israeli military have previously been inadequate and in some cases misleading, and do not absolve them of obligations under international humanitarian law to take all possible measures to minimize harm to civilians. In a vast area of the country that houses hundreds of thousands of civilians, mass evacuation orders arbitrary issued on short notice are not sufficient or realistic and undermine civilians’ protection including those deemed the most vulnerable such as refugees, those that are disabled, those with children or dependants.
While attacks remain ongoing at the time of writing, as of 02 March, Lebanon’s Ministry of Health stated that the death toll amounts to 52 with 154 wounded [3], a number that is expected to rise significantly.
Refugees remain acutely vulnerable and face discrimination at a time of crisis:
As of 3 March 2025, internally displaced peoples (IDPs) including Syrian refugees in Lebanon have been forced to flee from areas of the south, Bekaa and Beirut. Further, more than 11,000 people, the majority of whom are Syrian refugees, reported to have crossed from Lebanon into Syria, with significant pressure on the border crossings especially the Masna-Jdeidat Yabous crossing and the Al-Qaa-Josiya-Homs crossings.[4] While these Lebanon-Syria movements reflect immediate efforts to escape bombardment in Lebanon, returns to Syria in this context do not alter the broader reality that conditions inside Syria remain unstable and unsafe and returns unsustainable, especially as Israel warned Syrian authorities of potential airstrikes, including near border crossings, prompting Syria to close crossings for departure.[5] Further, ACHR has documented several complaints of ill-treatment and discrimination of Syrian refugees returning to Syria, including allegations of beatings and ill-treatment at the border by members of the Lebanese General Security.
Regarding those displaced, the Lebanese Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA) shared a list of 325 collective shelters with 65,000 displaced people having been registered in shelters as of 04 March[6]. While MoSA has stated that shelters are open to non-Lebanese populations, ACHR has collected a number of testimonies from displaced Syrian refugees who reported that they were unable to access the collective shelters due to discrimination on the basis of their nationality. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, refugees remain entitled to basic means of existence and humane treatment and may not be subjected to discrimination solely based on nationality. In this context, the exclusion of Syrian refugees from emergency shelter mechanisms may constitute unlawful adverse distinction and a breach of Lebanon’s obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law. Local community networks have aimed to address this gap by coordinating the establishment of shelters for Syrians in areas such as Bar Elias and Bekaa and some reports indicate that specific shelters for non-Lebanese have been established.
With no clear or disaggregated data available to identify how many Syrian refugees are amongst those displaced, it remains unclear whether humanitarian support is being provided to the most vulnerable civilians including addressing the specific protection and humanitarian needs of refugees. Displaced Syrian refugees have found themselves in an increasingly untenable humanitarian and protection situation, and their current vulnerability is compounded by ongoing structural and legal barriers to access basic services, jobs and legal paperwork. In this current crisis, refugees are now grappling with further security risks and have less access to necessary basic resources like access to housing, healthcare, savings – all necessary during a crisis to ensure adaptive resiliency when prices such as food items and rents are rising. For instance, rental costs in areas considered safe and accessible in mount Lebanon areas and Beirut remain excessively high and well beyond the financial means of most refugee households. Too, many refugees have been evicted from rented housing or informal arrangements and have nowhere affordable or safe to turn, leaving the most vulnerable to the acute risk of homelessness, or forced to live in unsafe areas, with heightened exposure to the protection risks.
Discrimination towards Syrian refugees is also evident at the national/structural level, with various barriers enacted by the Lebanese authorities preventing access to healthcare. The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health issued a decision (6042/1/26) on 03 March instructing public hospitals to admit uninsured patients, displaced or otherwise, for the duration of the war, the measure has been implemented in a manner that is favourable to Lebanese nationals, effectively excluding Syrian refugees from free or emergency medical care. Notably, the Ministry’s website announced the creation of a “Health Services Hotline” explicitly for displaced Lebanese, framing the emergency health response around Lebanese nationals[7]. This raises serious concerns under international humanitarian law, which requires that the wounded and sick be collected and cared for without adverse distinction, as well as under international human rights law guaranteeing non-discriminatory access to essential healthcare.
Conclusion: In this recent escalation and crisis, Syrian refugees and other refugee inside Lebanon continue to face significant challenges and are acutely vulnerable to protection risks due to ongoing structural barriers and ongoing discrimination. This is felt by refugees acutely during crisis when they are legally precarious and have few resources or social safety nets to rely on. Humanitarian actors should ensure that data is disaggregated, reflecting the specific protection and humanitarian needs of refugees and that there is unimpeded access to emergency and humanitarian services and that aid is provided on the basis of need. While many Syrians are opting to flee Lebanon to Syria, severe obstacles inside Syria including destroyed or heavily damaged homes, high rental costs, limited housing and jobs availability, intermittent access to electricity, water, healthcare and education, and high living costs, undermine returnees ability to return to conditions that are stable and durable.
[1] Al Jazeera – Israel intensifies war on Lebanon after Hezbollah attack, 2 March 2026. See: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2026/3/2/israel-intensifies-war-on-lebanon-after-hezbollah-attack
[2] Al Jazeera live blog: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2026/3/4/iran-live-news-us-embassy-in-dubai-hit-israel-pounds-tehran-beirut
[3] Wafa News Agency, 2 March 2026. See: https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/167946
[4] Enab Baladi, Syrian ports authority on full alert to facilitate Syrians crossing from Lebanon, 3 March 2026. See: https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2026/03/syrian-ports-authority-on-full-alert-to-facilitate-syrians-crossing-from-lebanon/
[5] Arab News – Syria closes Lebanon border crossing after warning of it being targeted by Isreali strikes, 4 March 2026. See: https://www.arabnews.com/node/2635224/middle-east
[6] Al Jazeera – More than 65,000 displaced by Isreali attacks, 4 March 2026. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPdKQXPtmFM
[7] Lebanese Ministry of Public Health website: https://moph.gov.lb/ar/DynamicPages/index/3