The key facts

  • The fire destroyed all 59 tents of the camp in Bar Elias, home to 75 families — about 486 people
  • No casualties were reported, and the cause of the blaze has not been named
  • Lebanon hosts about 1.5 million Syrian refugees; by the end of 2025, according to UNHCR, more than 500,000 had returned to Syria

Fire leaves about 500 refugees homeless

A fire swept through a Syrian refugee camp in Bar Elias — a town in the Zahle district of the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon — on Saturday. According to witnesses, the flames destroyed all 59 tents in which 75 families lived, that is, about 486 people. The entire camp burned down, and hundreds of refugees were left without shelter.

No casualties, cause unknown

No casualties from the fire were reported. Lebanese authorities, at the time of publication, did not comment on the possible cause of the blaze, so the circumstances of the incident remain unclear for now.

Context: refugees in Lebanon

Lebanon has hosted a large number of Syrian refugees since the start of the conflict in Syria in 2011. According to estimates by Lebanese authorities announced in January, there are about 1.5 million Syrian refugees in the country, of whom nearly 880,000 are registered with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Return program

In June 2025, the Lebanese government launched a program for the voluntary return of Syrian refugees to their homeland. According to UNHCR's annual report, by the end of 2025 more than 500,000 refugees had returned from Lebanon to Syria, based on confirmed data or assumptions; at the same time, about 240,300 returns were assessed as voluntary.