UN suspends providing Syrian refugees in Lebanon with cash aid
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – UN aid agencies in Lebanon on Saturday temporarily suspended its cash assistance program to Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
The UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, the UN refugee agency UNHCR and the World Food Program (WFP) said, in a joint statement, that they held meetings on May 26 with Prime Minister of Lebanon Najib Mikati and caretaker Social Affairs Minister Hector Hajjar.
As a result of the meetings, the UN agencies suspended providing cash aid to the Syrian refugees due to disapproval of the Lebanese officials.
The UNHCR announced that the Syrian refugees in Lebanon would be able to receive cash aid in dollars from late May, rather than in the unstable and devaluing Lebanese pound.
In recent weeks, the Lebanese government has ramped up efforts to deport refugees.
In 2022, Lebanon announced a plan to return 15,000 Syrian refugees to Syria. They deported the first batch in the autumn of that same year and included over 100 families through three border crossings with Syria in Homs and Damascus.
On May 24, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) told North Press that seven families of Syrian refugees in Lebanon had reached AANES-held areas and settled in a camp north of Raqqa Governorate, northern Syria.
Late in April, the AANES expressed its readiness to receive Syrian refugees in Lebanon after Lebanese authorities increasingly deported refugees.