Drawing on a detailed interview with Litani River Authority Director General Dr. Sami Alawieh, the piece explores how the Authority’s campaign to remove “encroachments” along the Litani River, launched to safeguard public lands and water quality, has increasingly affected Syrian displaced families living in informal settlements in the Beqaa. It outlines the Authority’s multi-layered definition of encroachments, the legal basis for intervention, and the processes through which 34 priority sites were issued eviction notices, all amid limited UNHCR involvement in ensuring alternatives. The analysis underscores the tension between environmental protection and housing rights, arguing that river cleanup efforts cannot depend solely on dismantling settlements without a broader, rights-based strategy that provides safe transitional housing and accounts for the vulnerabilities of affected communities.

Read the full Article in Arabic.