They risked everything to flee war and hunger in Syria. Now, as Lebanon collapses, they plan to go back

Many Syrian refugees in Lebanon live in such poverty that some are making the seemingly unimaginable decision to return to their war-ravaged country, reports Middle East Correspondent Bel Trew

Abu Abdu, a Syrian refugee, points to Syria, where he plans to return, as he says his life in Lebanon is so hard

(Bel Trew)

The father-of-four knows it is potential suicide to return home. But despite fleeing war just three years ago, he would rather risk death back in Syria than stay in Lebanon and starve.

Marooned by hunger and helplessness in a rundown neighbourhood in Beqaa Valley, Sultan, 46, describes how refugee families like his are on the frontline of Lebanon’s unprecedented economic collapse. The situation has become so severe, he says it is forcing them to make unimaginable decisions like sending their children back to an active war zone.

United Nations officials told The Independent that now “almost all” of the estimated 1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon live under the extreme poverty line, which means surviving on just over a dollar a day. Ninety-nine per cent of Syrian refugees in Lebanon now do not have food or access to money to buy food.