As conflict continues to spread across the Middle East, hundreds of thousands of people in Lebanon have begun to flee in waves from the country’s expanding war between Israel and Hezbollah. 

Syrians entering North-East Syria after fleeing Lebanon.

As of October 11, over 258,000 people had fled Lebanon to different parts of Syria since the start of hostilities, according to UNICEF. Approximately 70 percent of those people were not Lebanese, but Syrians who themselves had fled Syria’s conflict years earlier. 

Due to the worse economic and security situation in other parts of the country, tens of thousands of these people have already made the journey to North-east Syria, where conditions are better compared to regime-held and Turkish-occupied regions. 

Members of the Kurdish Red Crescent (Heyva Sor) prepare to medically assess incoming Syrians from Lebanon.

According to the Social Affairs and Labor Board of the Autonomous Administration (DAANES), 2,500 to 3,000 people are arriving daily to the North-east from Lebanon, with the region currently making preparations to take in at least 50,000 people, although the expectation is that the region will take in far more as the conflict continues.

People arrive from Lebanon to North-East Syria via bus.

The refugees are primarily coming through the crossings separating regime-governed and Autonomous Administration-governed Syria, specifically near the cities of Manbij and Tabqa. 

The Administration has called on UNICEF and other international organizations to do more to support their efforts, as the number of refugees has already crossed 18,000, only 85 of whom are Lebanese nationals. With winter fast approaching, the region will be further strained, as resources and basic services have been devastated in the past year by a Turkish air campaign that destroyed hospitals, water stations, gas stations, and oil infrastructure.