(Zaman Al Wasl)- The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Lebanon has suspended food rations and aid for 8,000 Syrian families, activists said Wednesday.
The UNHCR stressed that the financial assistance in Lebanon, sponsored by the World Food Program (WFP), has been allocated to assist the most vulnerable families economically and socially to afford their basic needs.
According to a statement issued by UNHCR, the displaced families receive LP 260,000 ($ 173.5) per month, in addition to $27 per person provided by WFP.
UNHCR considers that the most vulnerable groups are often families that are unable to cover the basic needs of the family, such as food, health care, medicines and rent.
The UNHCR warned earlier that the change in aid would take place in November 2018. Later mobile messages would be sent to families that would receive financial and or food assistance starting in November.
UNHCR explained that WFP had not reduced the total number of families receiving financial assistance, but said the International organization gave priority to those currently identified as the most vulnerable.
Most Syrian refugee families in Lebanon suffer catastrophic physical, health, economic and educational conditions as winter approaches.
In its January 2007 report, the High Commission classified the Syrian refugees in Lebanon as the poorest refugees. 58% of Syrians in Lebanon live in extreme poverty (less than $ 2.87 per person per day).
Over the past few months, about 5000 Syrian refugees have returned to Syria, most of the refugees are from the western Qalamoun region, after the Lebanese security ensured the safe transfer of the refugees from Arsal to the Lebanese-Syrian border.
The Syrian conflict has displaced more than 6 million Syrians outside the country, the United Nations says, with more than half displaced to Turkey and most of the rest split between Lebanon and Jordan
Thousands of Syrians are unable to return because their homes were destroyed in the fighting, or because they region fear military conscription or retribution from regime forces.
But the tough retractions and mounting arrest campaign by the Lebanese security have pushed hundreds of refugees to move back home as fighting there subsides.
A survey made by Zaman al-Wasl on a random sample of refugees in the camps of Arsal, including 210 refugees, showed that 92% of the refugees had refused to return, while 8% had agreed to return to the towns that they described as safe in the western Qalamoun.
The appeal reflects the regime's growing confidence after more than seven years of war.
Syrian regime forces, with crucial support from Russia and Iran, recently retook large areas near the capital, Damascus, and are waging a new offensive in the south.
Syrian refugees in Lebanon have called on the UN refugee agency to protect them from the abuses of Lebanese security that uses the identity of UNHCR employees to delude refugees in its latest arrest campaign.
Lebanese officials have accused the UN refugee agency of deliberately discouraging refugees from returning.
Zaman Al Wasl
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