Syrian refugee families homeless after camp set on fire in Lebanon

Camp was reportedly set ablaze following dispute between Syrians and Lebanese residents of the area

• 

  Syrian refugees salvage belongings from the wreckage of their shelters at a camp set on fire overnight in the northern Lebanese town of Bhanine. AFP

• 

  Syrian refugees salvage belongings from the wreckage of their shelters at a camp set on fire overnight in the northern Lebanese town of Bhanine. AFP

• 

  Syrian refugees salvage belongings from the wreckage of their shelters at a camp set on fire overnight in the northern Lebanese town of Bhanine. AFP

• 

  Syrian refugees salvage belongings from the wreckage of their shelters at a camp set on fire overnight in the northern Lebanese town of Bhanine. AFP

• 

  Syrian refugees salvage belongings from the wreckage of their shelters at a camp set on fire overnight in the northern Lebanese town of Bhanine. AFP

• 

  Syrian refugees salvage belongings from the wreckage of their shelters at a camp set on fire overnight in the northern Lebanese town of Bhanine. AFP

• 

  Syrian refugees salvage belongings from the wreckage of their shelters at a camp set on fire overnight in the northern Lebanese town of Bhanine. AFP

Three Syrians have been injured and hundreds of Syrian refugee families were left homeless after their camp in northern Lebanon was set on fire on Saturday night following a fight between residents and a local Lebanese family.

The fire destroyed all the tents in the camp the Miniyeh region and caused injuries requiring some people to be taken to hospital, the UN refugee agency said.

"The fire has spread to all the tented shelters", made of plastic sheeting and wood, UNHCR spokesman Khaled Kabbara told AFP.

The camp housed around 75 families, he said.

Video shared on Twitter showed flames spread across a vast area with civil defence vehicles at the scene.

Lebanon's National News Agency reported that the fire followed an "altercation" between a member of a Lebanese family and "Syrian workers".

Other youths from the Lebanese family then "set fire to some of the refugees' tents", NNA said.

Lebanese security forces cordoned off the area in the aftermath of the incident while members of the Civil Defense intervened to control the fire.

A security source told AFP shots were heard, saying the fight in the Bhanine area was sparked when Syrian workers demanded a wage which their employers refused to pay.

However, the same source said later that initial inquiries found the dispute could have been sparked by the harassment of a Syrian woman.

"Some families have fled the area out of fear because there were also sounds of explosions caused by household gas canisters blowing up," Mr Kabbara said.

The fire is the latest in a series of incidents across Lebanon that marked rising tensions between Lebanese residents and Syrian refugees.

Last month, over 250 Syrian refugee families were forced out of Bsharre, a town in north Lebanon, after a Syrian national was accused of killing a Lebanese resident.

Lebanon, which is home to some 1.5 million Syrian refugees, is suffering from its worse financial and economic crisis since the end of the civil in the 70s.

The crisis led to a sharp increase in the proportion of Syrian households living under the extreme poverty line, reaching a staggering 89 per cent in 2020, up from 55 per cent only a year before, UNHCR, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in a recently published 2020 Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon.

Authorities have called on refugees to return to Syria even though rights groups warn that the war-torn country is not yet safe.