Between May 19 and 20, 2024, news spread about the eviction of Al Waha Compound in Deddeh (Koura District, North Lebanon), which had been home to around 2,000 Syrian refugees for years. In fact, on May 13, 2024, the North Lebanon Governor issued Circular No. 746, ordering the Internal Security Forces and State Security to evict the Compound and the adjacent camp. The circular set a deadline for the eviction starting from the date of its issuance and ending on the morning of May 20, 2024. As a result, the compound’s residents were threatened with bulldozers and forcibly evicted. The North Lebanon Governor celebrated the victory, along with a number of Koura District mayors and MPs George Atallah and Fadi Karam.
This article argues that the justifications provided by the governor and local authorities for the eviction are fake. It argues that this eviction incident is one of the horrific manifestations of the discriminatory circulars issued by the governor and local authorities since the killing of Lebanese Forces coordinator Pascal Suleiman last April. These circulars came in the context of threats of expulsion and deportation by the security forces and ongoing national-level political and media incitement campaigns. The article also discusses the background of the eviction, how it was implemented, the fate of the residents after the eviction, and the history of their arrival to this compound. We aim through this to shed light on the tragic reality of the housing situation of the Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
Read the full article in Arabic.
