In September 2025, the Litani River Authority ordered the dismantling and eviction of Camp 044 in the town of Ghazzeh, West Bekaa, citing environmental violations and the need to remove encroachments from the river’s course. The eviction, which affected dozens of Syrian refugee families, is a part of a broader campaign targeting 34 informal tented settlements along the Litani basin, carried out without coordination, legal safeguards, or alternative housing plans.
This case sheds light on the growing use of environmental pretexts to justify forced evictions, exposing the absence of a coherent policy that balances ecological protection with fundamental housing rights. As authorities continue to frame long-standing refugee settlements as illegal encroachments, the human consequences of such measures remain unaddressed, leaving displaced families to navigate yet another cycle of instability and precarity.
Read the full Policy watch in Arabic.
