Middle East | Researcher on the plight of Lebanon: More than a million refugees, a difficult situation in emergency shelters and people are afraid

of Israel airstrikes have forced more than a million people to flee their homes in Lebanon, which has the same population as Finland. Government of Lebanon told on Wednesday that 1.2 million people have become internally displaced due to the airstrikes.

“Of course, one million people includes a lot of people who have, for example, been able to seek refuge from their relatives on the other side of the country or who have been able to afford to rent an apartment or who have received temporary accommodation from their relatives or their own networks”, a researcher at the Finnish Middle East Institute Samuli Lähteenaho says to STT.

Published on Wednesday by the Save the Children organization the report according to that, half of the more than one million people have gone for a walk in the previous four days. The organization expected the figure to rise because Israel had issued evacuation orders to dozens of villages in southern Lebanon on Tuesday. Israel has too blows To Ain al-Helweh refugee camp, which is the largest refugee camp in Lebanon.

of Lebanon the state has closed the country’s schools, many of which are now being used for emergency housing for internally displaced people. According to Save the Children, more than 154,000 people who had to flee their homes are currently in emergency accommodation in more than 850 shelters, 70 percent of which are already full.

“The situation in emergency shelters is difficult. They are full and we have tried to open more of them at a fast pace,” says Lähteenaho.

The problem is that the Lebanese state does not have sufficient resources to respond to a sudden crisis.

“These schools haven’t had any services or emergency aid from the government, such as food or sanitary supplies or necessarily water,” says Lähteenaho.

Conditions in emergency accommodation vary a lot, and not all of them have working showers, for example. According to the researcher, international organizations and Lebanese civil society have tried to fill this gap.

In addition to Lebanese refugees, at least one million Syrian refugees live in the country. According to the source, many Syrians have lived especially in the Bekaa Valley, which has been bombed by Israel in recent days, where many of them have worked in the agricultural sector.

“As a result of these Israeli bombings, they have now had to flee at least once more,” Lähteenaho says.

Syrian refugees are in a weaker position than Lebanese because they may not have local networks. Lähteenaho says that in all cases, Syrian refugees have not been accepted into the now opened emergency accommodation.

Save the children interviewed by the father of two children under the age of three Ahmad had arrived at emergency accommodation in Mount Lebanon after spending the day on the run.

“My wife and I are terrified of what might happen next. We fear for our daughters. What if something happens to them? Or what will happen to them if something happens to us,” says Ahmad.

The man says that his seven-month-old baby cries non-stop because he senses his parents’ fear. The family is in dire need of diapers, baby food, clothes and other basic supplies, because the departure from home came suddenly.

“We couldn’t bring anything with us, we just managed to grab our children and run for our lives,” the man says.

Israeli Haaretz said on Wednesday that Jordan would send an aid package to Lebanon, including blankets and mattresses.

Save the Children says that it has given emergency aid such as hygiene items and bottled water to more than 27,000 people, of which 11,000 have been children.

Israel has bombed especially the Bekaa Valley in southern Lebanon and in the last few days also the southern suburbs of Beirut. Many have lost their homes in bombings or had to leave areas that have become too dangerous.

There have been small amounts of Israeli airstrikes in other parts of the country as well.

“Of course, people are afraid of where Israel will target its attack next,” says Lähteenaho.

Since Monday, Israel has attacked Lebanon on a limited basis, also by land. Lähteenaho thinks that the ground attack has not caused a significant number of refugees so far, because the villages on the border have been the target of bombings since last year.

“There have hardly been any significant residents there today or yesterday. I assume that the residents mostly evacuated earlier.”

However, the ground attack affects especially on a spiritual level.

“Always this kind of intrusion of the Israeli army into Lebanese territory awakens people’s memories of previous attacks and, of course, Israel’s long occupation of southern Lebanon,” says Lähteenaho.

As the situation drags on, it will also bring more refugees to Europe. Lebanon has been one of the growing departure countries for migrants to the European Union even before the war.

“Lebanon’s deep economic crisis and the difficult position of Syrian refugees in Lebanon have already led to the fact that, in previous years, an increasing number of boat refugees have left Lebanon for Cyprus or Italy. This has also resulted in human tragedies,” says Lähteenaho.

Foreign citizens cannot leave the country in an instant.

Lebanon’s only international airport, Rafik Harir, is still operational, but practically all international airlines have canceled or suspended their flights. However, the local Middle East Airlines still operates.

According to Lähteenaho, you can leave the country, but you may have to wait for your turn, because there are many people willing to leave. Some European countries, such as Germany and France, have solved the bottleneck by sending charter flights to Lebanon to pick up their citizens and families of diplomats.

In 2006, several European countries made an evacuation plan in case the airport stopped working. At that time Israel bombed the airport and it had to be closed.

“There have been no signs of this, but of course if Israel decides that they want to close the flight connection, they can do it quickly,” says Lähteenaho.

In that case, Europeans would probably be evacuated by ship to Cyprus.

Employees of the Middle East Institute working in Beirut have switched to remote work. Lähteenaho says that he has booked a plane ticket.

“My personal plan is to leave Lebanon on a Middle East Airlines flight in the next few weeks.”

Lähteenaho has followed Lebanon for ten years and lived in the country for long periods of time. At the moment, there are many questions in the air about, among other things, how Israel’s attack will develop and whether the United States plans to set limits on how Israel is allowed to operate in Lebanon.

“Of course, it gives you the feeling that you will return to the country in which situation the next time you come back here.”