OCHA Situation Report No. 4
Lebanon Response: Syria
16 August 2006


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

SITUATION OVERVIEW
Displacement Update/ Returnees

1. Immediately after the cessation of hostilities on 14 August thousands 
of Lebanese who had fled fighting over the past month to Syria began 
crossing the border to return to their homes. As of mid-day 16 August, 
UNHCR estimates that 60,000 Lebanese refugees had crossed the border 
from Syria to Lebanon. The majority of spontaneous returns take place in 
private cars, Syrian and Lebanese taxis, buses, minibuses, trucks, and 
by foot. At numerous levels, the UN continues to warn of the dangers and 
practical complications of a large scale return within a short period of 
time. However, it is clear that for the time being, Lebanese are "voting 
with their feet" and are difficult to discourage.

2. Following the televised declaration on 14 August that Hezbollah will 
subsidize rent and provide furniture and other items needed by families 
who have had their homes destroyed; further intensification in returns 
is expected. According to UNICEF, some families also receive cash 
receipts from Iran (amount of 500 SYP approx. USD 10).

3. UNICEF reports that in 53 monitored sites which have been hosting 
some 8,000 Lebanese in Syria, the majority indicate that refugees are 
packing up and expect to return this week. Some 20% of the Lebanese in 
these sites had already left by mid-day on 15 August.

Map of Main border crossings from Syria to Lebanon: Border crossings 
include Dabbusieh where Lebanese are mainly heading for Tripoli, Akar 
and to the villages around Hisa. Jusieh has been particularly busy with 
90% of person returning to Baalbak and AlBukar, 10 % to South Beirut and 
South Lebanon. Al Aarida border crossing is used mostly for Beirut, Tyre 
and Tripoli. At Masnaa border crossing, the one closest to Damascus, the 
Lebanese public works department has been working on the filling of the 
crater close to the border crossing. It can thus be expected that 
increasingly large numbers of refugees will be able to move through this 
corridor.

HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE

General

4. In view of the massive return movements seen over the past 48 hours, 
humanitarian activities in Syria have shifted to facilitation of return 
including transportation, distribution of returnee packages, mine 
awareness raising and strengthening of health and water and sanitation 
facilities in and around border crossings. Assistance will continue to 
be provided in Syria for remaining Lebanese with a focus on monitoring 
and responding to unmet needs.

5. Within the above framework, the UN Resident Coordinator and the UN 
Country Team supported by OCHA continue to work with the GoS on 
humanitarian coordination issues with a specific focus on enhanced 
central coordination and government interface. In the interim, 
operational coordination continues in sectoral working groups. In 
addition, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour will be hosting 
weekly general coordination meetings with the objective of discussing 
population figures, outstanding needs and response planning. The focus 
and continuation of these general coordination meetings will depend on 
return movements and residual caseloads.

Facilitation of return

6. UNHCR has set up tents at the four main border points and increased 
staff for returnee monitoring on a 24 hour basis. In general, returnees 
seemed optimistic, and many said that they would prefer to stay in 
Lebanon even if their homes had been destroyed.

7. Together with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Society, UNHCR is 
distributing returnee packages to refugees containing water, biscuits, 
wet towels and re-hydration salts provided by UNHCR, WFP and UNICEF. WFP 
will provide bread and possibly canned meat to include in the packages. 
UNICEF will include a leaflet on unexploded ordinances. UNHCR is in 
charge of distributing the whole package at all four border points.

8. On 15 August, in collaboration with the Governor of Homs and 
following requests from a number of sites, UNHCR provided transportation 
of returnees in nine buses from Homs to areas of origin. The drop-off 
points will be Tripoli, Beirut and Sayda for the time being. 
Transportation for refugees in Aleppo, Tartus and Damascus is also being 
organized.

9. Current UNHCR planning figures for the most likely scenario are for a 
residual caseload of 10-20,000, which is to be reviewed early next week. 
However, as a contingency measure, UNHCR is ready to assist some 50,000 
needy Lebanese who may opt to remain in Syria in view of the destruction 
and insecurity in their areas of origin.

Health & Nutrition

10. In view of return movements, agencies are collaborating with the 
Public Health Care (PHC) department in the Ministry of Health (MOH) to 
assess the status of the health facilities and services close to the 
border to strengthen the services there and possibly deploy additional 
health workers and increase supplies as needed.

11. UNICEF reports that the latest update from the MoH about the PHCs 
close to the Lebanese border are as follows;  24 PHC centers are 
currently functioning, those are located within 5-15 km distance from 
the border, supported by already established 60 mobile teams; these 
facilities are currently providing PHC services to about 200,425 people 
living inside the Syrian border. These PHC centers are currently ready 
to provide health services to the Lebanese refugees on their way back 
home.

12. The NGO Life-Syria reported at the Health Cluster Meeting on 14 
August that since the implementation of the cessation of hostilities, 
the emergency measures for importing medical goods have been suspended. 
As of 14th August all medicines must be tested before they can be 
allowed into Syria, in accordance with usual measures.

13. International Medical Corps (IMC) reports that children in Lebanon 
and Syria are in urgent need of mental health services. IMC's mobile 
medical teams have noted increasing signs of emotional stress among 
displaced children, including noticeable changes in behavior, heightened 
levels of fighting, and the development of phobias.

14. Three workshops have been conducted for mental health, facilitated 
by Dr. Ahmad Mohit from WHO and Dr. Adib Asali, the head of Syrian 
Psychiatrists Association. The first workshop was a training of trainers 
for volunteers working at camps, and was attended by 32 volunteers from 
different NGOs working at camps. The second workshop was for specialized 
persons working at the MOH, and was attended by 25 psychiatrists from 
all Governorates. The third was for inter-agency coordination regarding 
mental health issues and psychosocial support, and was attended by 30 
persons from different UN agencies and NGOs.

15. The latest figures, from the MOH as of 12th August, on immunization 
coverage for children in the shelters are as follows: 97.4 % for polio, 
85.6 % for MMR, 88.7 % for meningitis, and 86.2 % for measles. However, 
refugees with host families have not been systematically approached. The 
campaign is still ongoing. UNICEF has also provided 150,000 capsules of 
vitamin A to be distributed to all affected children in a bid to boost 
their immune system. The Vaccination campaign and the routine activities 
are ongoing.

16. UNFPA has furthermore provided emergency obstetric kits for pregnant 
women and newborns as well as safe blood transfusion kits, drugs and 
supplies for the prevention of sexually transmitted infections, enough 
to help 120,000 people for the next three months. The Fund has also 
provided the Syrian Family Planning Association with a mobile clinic, a 
gynecologist, and an ultra sound machine, as well as other mobile health 
services, essential drugs, contraceptives and fuel for the mobile clinic 
and vehicles. So far this has reached more than 2,000 people, including 
40 pregnant women, and 80 women treated for reproductive tract 
infections.

17. In addition to regular programs, UNRWA is providing a range of 
emergency health services for 3,409 persons under their care both in 
schools and host families in Damascus, Hama, and Homs. UNRWA health 
teams continue visiting all schools under their care 3 times a day, 
while POCs at host families are being treated at health centers. UNRWA 
has carried out 1,688 medical consultations at schools and 279 at health 
centers. In addition, medical screenings were given to all refugees 
settled in UNRWA schools.

18. UNICEF will deliver the following supplies to support the EPI/ cold 
chain system; a) 75,000 doses of MMR and 100,000 doses of Measles 
vaccines, b) 17,500 syringes for reconstitution of vaccines and c) 
17,500 AD syringes

Food

19. As of yesterday, WFP pre-positioned 8 metric tons of high energy 
biscuits at the border points, to be distributed to the returnees. From 
today, each individual crossing back into Lebanon will also be provided 
with 900g of fresh bread, and 100g of canned meat, provided by WFP and 
distributed by UNHCR.

20. On 15 August WFP also signed a work plan with MOSAL and should 
therefore be able to start distributing to remaining caseloads in Syria.

Water and Sanitation

21. Hygiene items have also been distributed to 1,700 Palestinian 
Lebanese hosted in UNRWA schools.

Protection

22. UNICEF reports that 50,000 leaflets on Mine Risk education are being 
printed and distributed to Lebanese returnees.

23. IOM continues to repatriate third country nationals. To date 11,162 
TCNs have been assisted, with a further 1,900 scheduled to be 
transported to Syria on buses in the next two days.

24. In Syria, UNICEF will continue to support 9 hotlines operated by the 
Syrian Family Planning Association (SFPA) to provide advice and support 
on psycho-social needs and referral of those needed to professional 
support in each community.

25. The SFPA, with support from UNICEF, will establish nine child 
friendly spaces within one week located in Damascus, Rural Damascus, 
Aleppo, Lattakia and Sweida. Training of psycho-social support will be 
provided to volunteers working at the child friendly spaces. The 
training will be conducted by SFPA and Movimondo supported by UNICEF.

Education

26. The Syrian Ministry of Education is prepared to integrate 20,000 
Lebanese students in the next schooling year if needed.

Environment

27. The Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the 
Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) reports that the Syrian Authorities have set 
up a dedicated Task Force to deal with the Emergency Response to the oil 
spill. The Task Force is chaired by the Governor, and further consists 
of staff of the Ministry of Environment and local authorities at the 
national and local level, the Directorate General for Ports (of the 
Ministry of Transport).

28. The clean-up operations along the Syrian coast lasted three days 
(from 26 to 29 July) and involved 400 persons of various public agencies 
and volunteers. After the first 'wave' of oil on the shores on the 26th 
of July a second 'wave' arrived on the 2nd of August. Minor spots of 
pollution occurred throughout. The total amount of oil residue collected 
at sea is not known but REMPEC recommends that aerial observations of 
the sea are carried out as soon as the security situation allows.

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

29. The UN is supporting MOSAL in maintaining one central and accurate 
database of remaining Lebanese in Syria intended for operational 
tasking. MOSAL is in the process of integrating the list of sites 
assessed so far by the UN into the MOSAL list of sites and will be 
making available on a daily basis its updated list and information on 
remaining priorities. The relevance of this exercise obviously depends 
on return movements and will be reviewed periodically.

30. The virtual Humanitarian Information Center for the Lebanon Crisis 
available at www.humanitarianinfo.org/lebanon contains a range of 
information on the humanitarian situation and response as well as 
Humanitarian Contact Lists, Meeting schedules and maps. Humanitarian 
partners are encouraged to post relevant documents by submitting to 
vhic@un.org.

FUNDING

31. According to reports received by the UN Financial Tracking Service 
(FTS) regarding the Flash Appeal for the Lebanon crisis as of 14 August 
the appeal is 49% funded, with contributions of more than US $81 million 
and pledges worth US $11 million received. Agencies and donors are 
encouraged to report to FTS on fts@reliefweb.int on a daily basis.

31. Full details of funding can be found on www.reliefweb.int/fts.

PRIORITY CONCERNS

Facilitation of safe and responsible return

Determination of level of programming needed for residual caseloads 
remaining in Syria

For further information, please contact:

OCHA Mission to Syria: syriaocha@un.org

Mr. Ivo Freijsen, Head of Mission +963 934 75636
Ms. Sofie Garde Thomle, Information Management Officer +963 955 57807
Ms. Nadia Evans, Reports Officer +963 985 81824


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