Lebanon (MNN) — Amidst ongoing unrest in Syria, refugees from that country find themselves in limbo. A desire to return to their home country is paired with an understanding that Syria’s future remains unclear. On the other hand, the downfall of the Assad regime has meant new displacement for approximately 1 million people in places like Aleppo, Hama, and Homs. Pierre Houssney with Horizons International says Lebanon is not seeing a significant Syrian refugee wave, but it is experiencing a refugee exchange.
“Basically there are many people who have been hiding out in Lebanon that are not able to move back to their home country of syria because they have problems with the government.”
With the fall of the Assad regime, many in this category are returning to Syria. But Lebanon may see an influx of other groups. For example, Kurdish people are being persecuted amidst the downfall of the Assad regime. Houssney says 300,000 Kurds have already fled to the northeast of Syria. 
“And we’re actually sending in aids to that area right now because many of those are believers who came to Christ in Lebanon, moved back to Syria, and now have been internally displaced in Syria,” he says.
Asked if he expects Hezbollah to take advantage of the situation, Houssney responded that he doesn’t anticipate them having the capacity to do so. In addition to losing weapons caches at the hands of the Israeli military, they’ve also lost their main local support: Iran.
“They were getting weapons and resources from Iran through the Assad regime in Syria, so they’re really under duress right now,” Houssney says.
Without capacity for aggression, Hezbollah will not be well positioned to continue their historical role in Lebanon’s politics. That grip is rooted in the civil war of Lebanon (1975-1990), during which individual ethnic groups had armed militia financed by foreign entities. After the war, the independent militia disarmed and turned their weapons to the Lebanese Army – all except Hezbollah, which continued to operate and increase their arsenal. Their subsequent political influence has been palpable. Thus, despite recent changes being violent and even deadly, Houssney is hopeful for positive change in Lebanon.
“There is still a lot of work to be done. There are still a lot of things that need to change in order to make the situation significantly better for everybody. But in general, most people feel that these are painful times that we’re going through that are necessary to get to a place where we have rule of law in Lebanon.”
Please pray for local churches and gospel based organizations in Lebanon, and consider supporting them financially through ministries like Horizons International.
Houssney reminds us:
“We just need to be praying for the situation, and not putting our hope in the political changes, but we can be happy that good changes are happening. And be also just trying to seize the spiritual opportunities that this presents.”
Featured photo courtesy of Ahmed Akacha via Pexels
