Fire set to Syrian refugees camp in Lebanon

Lebanese media said that a Syrian refugee camp in the north of the country was set on fire, on Saturday night, after an altercation between a Lebanese and Syrian workers.

27 December, 2020 05:39

NEWS DESK

The official Lebanese News Agency reported that setting fire came after an "altercation" between a member of a Lebanese family and "Syrian workers," and added that other young men from the Lebanese family "set fire to some of the refugee tents."

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees also confirmed that a large fire broke out in a camp in the Miniyeh region in the north of the country, and said that some of the wounded were taken to hospital without specifying the number.

"The fire spread to all the tents," made of plastic panels and wood, UNHCR spokesperson Khaled Kabbara told AFP, stressing that the camp houses about 75 families.

Kabbara added that some families fled the area in fear, amid the sounds of explosions, as a result of the explosion of household gas canisters.

The United Nations registers about a million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, which it says hosts about 1.5 million.

J.O