The needs of Lebanon’s latest refugee crisis

By Ghinwa Akiki and Hunter Williamson

March 20, 2025

When Nisrine* speaks about fleeing her home, she begins to cry. 

Earlier this month, she was on her way to see her parents when gunmen stopped and searched the bus she was on, she said. 

“Who is an Alawite?” the gunmen asked. They singled out one man, demanding to see his identification card and then taking him off the bus. 

Nisrine never made it to her parents. Instead, she joined thousands of other Syrian Alawites who fled to Lebanon after hundreds of civilians were reportedly killed in sectarian fueled executions and massacres. 

Crammed in a small room with her children in a refugee center in a village in the northern Lebanese region of Akkar, she spoke to Thimar staff about her ordeal and her need for medicine. 

Thimar staff met her as they accompanied Bahaa, the pastor of a church in northern Lebanon supported by Thimar and its relief and development ministry MERATH, as he visited villages near the Lebanese-Syrian border to assess the situation and needs. 

Like most other families who have arrived in Akkar, Nisrine came with very few belongings.    

“We came, we didn’t have clothes, we didn’t have anything,” she said. She was later provided with necessities, but not everyone has been so lucky.

Thousands of families are living without basic necessities after seeking in mosques, schools, government buildings, and people’s homes. Many are living in cramped spaces with little to no privacy. 

As of Monday, more than 15,000 people had reportedly crossed into Lebanon, with many settling across nearly two dozen villages in Akkar. MERATH has begun providing Bahaa’s church with mattresses, blankets, and pillows to help meet needs. Local officials and other NGOs are also on the ground, but as the number of refugees continues to grow, so do the needs. People reported needing food, mattresses, blankets, diapers, milk, tents for privacy and space, medicines, and more. 

“We weren’t expecting what is happening,” said Bahaa. “It’s much harder than we imagined.” 

As Bahaa and the church prepare to distribute aid, it faces logistical and financial challenges. The villages that people have fled to are half an hour or more by car from the church, and many of the roads are unpaved or pocked with potholes. 

“The challenge now is bigger than anything before,” Bahaa said. “Now people cannot even leave the places where they are at due to danger and security reasons, including the fact that they don’t have identification.” 

The atrocities that led to the current crisis were fueled by deep sectarian divisions in Syria. Alawites, a minority group with beliefs stemming from Shia Islam, traditionally made up the support base of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. In December, a coalition of Sunni Muslim opposition groups ousted Assad from power after 14 years of civil war and formed a new government. Earlier this month, Alawite militias still loyal to Assad attacked fighters belonging to the new government, triggering a large-scale military operation. It remains unclear what exactly followed, with mis- and dis-information being rampant. After Sunni Muslim religious leaders called for people to come and support security forces tied to the new government, reports and images emerged of scores of Alawite civilians being abused and executed. Christians were reportedly killed too, though it is unclear how many. It seems that Christians were not directly targeted like Alawites were. 

The Syrian government soon announced an end to the military operation and promised to form a committee to investigate what happened. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa promised that individuals responsible for “the bloodshed of civilians” and mistreatment would be held accountable. It remains unclear whether the situation has fully calmed down, however, with some individuals still reporting sectarian-based violence in Syria’s coastal provinces. 

The killings highlighted Syria’s fragile political and security situation and seemed to confirm the fears of minority groups that the country would not be safe for them despite promises from Sharaa to form an inclusive country. Syrian Alawites have found refuge in Alawi villages in northern Lebanon, but the sudden influx of so many people has put even more strain on resources and services already crippled by the presence of 1.5 million Syrian refugees already in the country and years of other crises. It has also raised concerns about the potential for violence. The Syrian civil war has had many spill-over effects on Lebanon, including regarding tensions between Sunni Muslims and Alawites. When the war erupted in 2011, for example, it re-ignited a decades-long conflict in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli between Alawite and Sunni communities. 

In this instance, the church can be an agent for peace, especially given that many Syrian Alawites have lived in peaceful co-existence with Syrian Christians. 

“The church is here as a lighthouse for people, to help them,” said Bahaa, who emphasized that the church is providing support on an unconditional basis. “We are able to cure a bit of wounds. We are sure that God has a purpose for us being here.” 

If you would like to support MERATH as it works with Bahaa and local partners to respond to this latest refugee crisis, please consider donating.