More than a million Syrians live in Lebanon. For many Syrian children, the only life they know is in shabby tented settlements. After the fall of the Assad regime, some refugees are returning home, while tens of thousands are once again taking flight. In Lebanon’s deeply fractured political landscape, there is little on which all parties agree. Yet one demand cuts across political divides: the Syrian refugees must leave. According to estimates by the UN refugee agency UNHCR, more than 1.1 million Syrians still live in Lebanon – that is roughly one-sixth of the population of this small country. Lebanon hosts the highest proportion of refugees in the world. After the fall of the Syrian Assad regime in 2024, many in Lebanon, both locals and refugees, hoped that returning home would become possible. But the situation remains complex. “There is nothing for us in Syria,” says Hannah Djasem, 40. She is waiting with other women for classes to end so she can pick up her son, Omar. Fourteen ...
