More than 100,00 Syrian refugees have crossed back into their home country from Lebanon this month, fleeing escalating violence to return to a place that’s still struggling to rebuild after more than a decade of civil war.
At the Jdeidet Yabous border crossing — the main entry point between Lebanon and Syria — buses and cars arrived packed with families fleeing intense Israeli bombardment and escalating fighting in Lebanon. Some had mattresses strapped to the tops of vehicles, their belongings piled high.
Several Syrians agreed to speak about why they were leaving Lebanon and their journey to the border, but did not want to share their full names with CBC News. Some because they were in a rush to cross the border and get their families to safety, while others feared repercussions from Lebanese authorities should they return to that country.
Fatimah, a Syrian woman crossing with her children, says her family lived in southern Lebanon for two years after fleeing Syria’s civil war. She broke down in tears describing an airstrike that hit the home of her sister-in-law’s son in southern Lebanon, killing him and his wife.
“They were newly married, only five months,” she cried. “They haven’t seen anything yet in life. What was their fault to be killed?”
Leaving one war for another
Lebanon was sucked into this new war after Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2. Israel has since intensified airstrikes across Lebanon — including southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley and Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh, a Hezbollah stronghold.
“We escaped one war and came back to another war,” Fatimah said. Now, as the war escalates she again finds herself trying to keep her family safe from conflict.
“My children were freezing,” she said, describing the harsh conditions as the temperatures dropped. “I held them in my lap so they could feel safe.”
The roughly 120 to 160 kilometre journey from southern Lebanon to the crossing — called Masnaa on the Lebanese side and Jedeidet Yabous on the Syrian side — typically takes a few hours by car. Without a vehicle, it can now take days.
Some were forced to leave their belongings behind. Fatimah pointed to her clothing. “I left with only these.”
Many people fasting for the holy month of Ramadan arrived at the border shortly before the evening Iftar meal, exhausted and struggling to stand. They were greeted by Syrian Civil Defence crews and civil organizations, who transported the injured and provided first aid while distributing water, dates and snacks.
Some people are returning to their hometowns or staying temporarily with family, while others hope to find work so they can rent a place. Fatimah’s husband, who remained in Lebanon to help bury his relatives, plans to join them later in Syria.
The U.S. and Israel-Iran war has crossed into Lebanon, with airstrikes in the capital of Beirut and Israeli ground forces moving in through the south. The Israel Defence Forces are urging the evacuation of civilians in the regions, as they ramp up bombing against Hezbollah forces, the militant group and Iranian proxy based in Lebanon.
Caught between 2 threats
Syria’s uprising began in 2011, and Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon soon entered Syria to support Bashar al-Assad’s government. Millions of Syrians were displaced and hundreds of thousands made their way to Lebanon.
At the crossing, a Syrian man living in Mansourieh said he fled the town just east of Beirut after Israeli strikes escalated. He said many of the strikes were hitting predominantly Shia neighbourhoods under Hezbollah’s control.
The man, who said he was originally from Al Hasakah, a city in northeastern Syria near the Iraqi and Turkish borders, also said Syrians fear hostility in neighbourhoods where Hezbollah has influence.
He said he stocked up on groceries and stayed indoors for about a week after Israeli strikes began in Lebanon because he was afraid to leave his home.
Lebanon hosts about 1.5 million Syrian refugees among a population of roughly four million, giving it the highest number of refugees per capita in the world, according to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.
Human rights groups say Syrians in Lebanon have faced rising discrimination, arrests and deportations in recent years.
Inside the arrivals building at the border, a staging point run by UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) helps Syrians return to their home country voluntarily. The program, which runs through the end of March, provides transportation and a $100 US cash grant per person, according to UNHCR.
The man said he hadn’t returned earlier because Al Hasakah, controlled for years by Kurdish-led forces backed by the United States, faced years of instability and economic hardship.
Then, Syria’s civil war ended in December 2024, when Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and groups of Syrian rebels captured various cities and toppled the regime, with Assad fleeing to Russia. Syria’s government, now led by Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former HTS commander, recently began deploying forces to Al Hasakah to bring it back under state authority.
The man says he’ll return to the city until the strikes ease in Lebanon, where his job is based.
“We will be waiting for God’s relief.”
Syria still rebuilding
Since the Assad regime’s fall, UNHCR estimates some 1.3 million Syrian refugees from around the world have returned home.
Now, the current war in the Middle East is pushing that number higher.
From March 2 to March 17, more than 125,000 people have crossed from Lebanon into Syria, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). It noted that most are Syrians, while about 7,000 are Lebanese, highlighting the broader regional impact of Israeli strikes against Lebanon.
Syria’s Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed al-Saleh, who is also a permanent Canadian resident, discusses how the government is supporting refugees who are returning to Syria from Lebanon due to escalating strikes in the region.
Raed al-Saleh, Syria’s minister of emergency and disaster management and former head of the White Helmets, is a permanent resident of Canada. He told CBC News in an interview on March 11 that the government inherited a country in devastating condition after years of war.
“We need to remove landmines. We need to remove the rubble of destroyed homes. We need to dig again, repair and rehabilitate the existing infrastructure — whether sewage, water or other systems.”
Despite those challenges and limited funding, Saleh says government teams have been deployed at the border to co-ordinate with aid groups and assist returning Syrian families.
“This is people returning to their families and to their country,” he said.
“We are dealing with it as people going back to their homes, not as a humanitarian crisis.”
The reporting for this story was financially supported by the Gordon Sinclair Roving Reporter Bursary.