Field Watch

Field Watch

Displaced Persons and Returnees: Between Rising Rents and the Israeli Targeting of Prefabricated Homes

In the aftermath of the ceasefire, both the displaced and returnees are struggling to access affordable, suitable, and safe housing. Over 90,000 individuals remain displaced, with most relying on rental housing, where landlords have significantly inflated prices. Meanwhile, returnees continue to endure Israeli violations, with repeated attacks on prefabricated homes, further undermining return efforts. This crisis underscores the urgent need for state intervention to guarantee the right to adequate, affordable, and safe housing.

Field Watch

Incitement Before the Crime: Syrians Displaced and Homes Burned in Al-Aaqbiya

Syrian refugees in the Tariq al-Maslakh neighborhood of Al-Aaqbiyeh are facing escalating threats and attacks, leading to the forced displacement of dozens of families. Risks continue to rise amid growing incitement and official inaction.

Field Watch

 “100 dollars for rent or else…” The Khan Al-Askar project is outside the municipality’s accounts in terms of services, but it is present in the rent collection ledger

تهدد بلدية طرابلس بطرد سكان مشروع «إسكان قاطني وشاغلي خان العسكر»، في حالة عدم تمكنهم من دفع إيجار بقيمة 100 دولاراً، ممّا يعرّض للخطر حقّ السكن ل230 شخصاً يعيشون في مشروع الإسكان الشعبي.

Field Watch

The need for policies to protect heritage buildings: Buildings threatened with collapse in Basta

Following the evacuation of the inhabitants, two listed buildings are threatened with demolition, apparently as a result of deliberate negligence by the owners, as well as Israeli raids during the last war. This issue is not merely the destruction of unsafe buildings, but a clear example of the complexities of the issue of neglected heritage buildings and the institutional failures in its management. It also opens the door to fundamental questions about how to reconcile the preservation of public safety with the preservation of historical legacy, and how to protect the most vulnerable groups who inhabit these buildings, in the face of owners’ expectations for material gain.

Field Watch

 In Bir Hassan, Eviction After Displacement, Under the Pressure of Real Estate Development, and the Pretext of Protecting the Safety of Residents

After a long history of threatening families displaced by the Lebanese Civil War with eviction from a residential building in Bir Hassan under the pretext of being “illegal occupants,” and following failed negotiations, …

Field Watch

The blame game over shelter responsibilities is playing out in a car parking in Saida

For over a month, around 700 Syrian refugees displaced by Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon have been living in a parking lot in Saida City. Stranded without alternatives, their situation remained unresolved until the property owner’s influence and the protection of private property rights prompted officials to take action—not to find a solution, but to evict them, leaving their fate uncertain.

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Beirut Municipality removes the tents of the displaced in Ramlet el Bayda while using force and without securing alternatives

On Thursday October 31st, the security forces proceeded to remove the tents that were inhabited by more than seventy displaced persons in Ramlet al-Bayda, to transfer them to a new shelter in the Karantina area. However, these plans excluded non-Lebanese, causing them another displacement or homelessness.

Field Watch

The displaced bring life back to a vacant building on Jeanne d’Arc Street

فُتح مبنى خالِ في شارع جان دارك لاستقبال النازحين جرّاء الحرب الإسرائيلية. إلّا أن الإعلام ضجّ استنكاراً لما اعتبره تعدٍ على الأملاك الخاصة وحقوق كبار رجال الأعمال، بدلاً من الاحتفال بتحويل الشقق الفارغة التي بُنِيَت على أنقاض النسيج العمراني الاجتماعي للأحياء، إلى مساكن تلعب دورها الاجتماعي الحقيقي في تأمين المأوى خاصة في أوقات الحرب والأزمات.

Field Watch

 Horsh Beirut Closed Again

On July 24, 2024, the Beirut Governor approved the closure of Horsh Beirut only allowing the entry of visitors who obtain prior permission. This illegal closure is nothing but a confirmation of the state’s failure to open, manage, and guard municipal parks and enhance their role as public spaces open to all residents of the city.

Field Watch

The secondhand market in Tripoli: 

The municipality 'cleans' the city of its poor

Starting Saturday June 29, and over several consecutive days, the secondhand market in Tripoli witnessed a full removal process, as part of the campaign to remove public property violations in Tripoli. This removal …

Field Watch

Roof Collapse in Al Basha Neighborhood:

Absence of Safe Housing Options Kills Residents

A tragic roof collapse in Beirut’s Al Basha neighbourhood exposed the harsh realities of Lebanon’s housing crisis. The incident claimed the lives of a mother and her child,  highlighting the struggles of low-income …

Field Watch

Young men raided the Beirut Horsh and the municipality rewards them

In April 2024, a group of young men from Tariq Al-Jadida raided Horsh Beirut to apprehend youths accused of drug use and trafficking by entering the Horsh through gaps in its fence, following …