It was the shelling that drove Syrian man Imad Omar Qashit from his home again. Fourteen years earlier he had fled Syria for Lebanon; this time he went the other way.
“When Israeli missiles destroyed entire homes in my neighborhood in southern Lebanon’s city of Tyre, we decided it was time to save our lives again,” the 52-year-old told DW.
In early March, Lebanon was drawn into a wider Middle East war after Hezbollah, backed by Iran, fired rockets into Israel, ostensibly in retaliation for the Israeli killing of Iran’s leader. A US-brokered 10-day ceasefire was announced on Thursday, but before it began more than 227,549 people had crossed the three official border points from Lebanon into Syria, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported. About 95% were Syrians and 5% were Lebanese.
Lebanon’s health authorities say the death toll from Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah is around 2,196, though the ministry does not give a nationality breakdown. Estimates of Syrians among the killed and injured vary widely, from about 39 to 315. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, counts more than 1 million Syrian refugees registered in Lebanon, with hundreds of thousands more believed to be there without registration.
Protracted crisis
When Qashit and his family arrived back in their hometown Maarat al-Numan near Aleppo, they found their house completely destroyed as a result of Syria’s civil war, which only ended in December 2024 after a coalition of rebel groups ousted Bashar al-Assad. “There are no houses for rent as the whole city is destroyed,” Qashit said. For now they are staying with his sister.
Another returnee, Mohammad Jassem al-Brouk, fled Israeli strikes in Lebanon two weeks earlier. It took an entire day to get through the crowded border crossing. At his family home in Qusair near Homs he found only remnants of the house. With no other option he unpacked a tent from the refugee camp in Lebanon and set it up; despite the lack of housing he does not want to go back to Lebanon.
A UNHCR survey in early April found around half of the Syrians interviewed said they intend to remain permanently in Syria despite economic challenges and limited state services. “Syrians are returning because Lebanon has become unlivable, rather than Syria being ready to receive them,” Nanar Hawach, senior Syria analyst at the International Crisis Group, said. He warned that while the government can manage borders it has no answer for what happens after people return, and that large numbers of returnees should not be read as evidence that conditions in Syria have improved.
Legacy of war
Syria continues to struggle with the legacy of more than a decade of conflict. Although sanctions have been lifted and Syria has moved back into the international fold, sectarian clashes and political instability persist. The World Bank estimates total reconstruction costs at about $216 billion. Basic services—education, health care and infrastructure—remain limited, and the humanitarian situation for roughly 26 million people is dire.
According to the UN, about 15.6 million Syrians require humanitarian assistance and 13.3 million are food-insecure. A severe drought in 2025 devastated 95% of rainfed crops, the UN 2025 food security assessment notes. “Syria was already in a protracted humanitarian crisis before this new wave of returns,” Hiba Zayadin, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, told DW. “The infrastructure simply isn’t there to absorb large numbers of people, many of whom left with nothing and are returning to the same.”
Risk of unexploded devices
Another major problem is contamination with explosive remnants. Years of aerial bombardment, ground fighting and use of cluster munitions have left vast areas littered with unexploded ordnance (UXO), landmines and improvised explosive devices. Iain Overton, executive director of Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), warned that UXO contamination is particularly acute in areas with sustained fighting and shifting frontlines—parts of Raqqa, Deir el-Zour, Aleppo, Idlib and rural Homs and Hama—precisely where many refugees are returning. Children and returnees unfamiliar with these hazards are especially vulnerable.
“Even in the absence of active hostilities, the legacy of explosive violence continues to kill and injure,” Overton said. AOAV recorded 238 UXO incidents causing 508 casualties in 2024, of which 479 were civilians. By 2025, incidents rose to 794 with 1,537 casualties, including 1,424 civilians.
For Qashit and his family, recently returned from Lebanon, unexploded mines are an additional worry. “My children would not recognize unexploded mines when they are playing outside,” he said.
Edited by: C. Schaer