BEIRUT, Lebanon – The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) in Lebanon announced recently that it will be forced to end healthcare funding for Syrian refugees by the end of 2025 due to a severe funding crisis.
Primary healthcare services for refugees have already been cut, leaving around 80,000 people at immediate risk, according to Lisa Abou Khaled, UNHCR’s spokesperson in Lebanon.
Abou Khaled told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that cash assistance programs have also been sharply reduced, with the agency’s ability to reach beneficiaries falling by 65% since January under its joint cash program with the World Food Programme.
She added that aid to around 350,000 of the most vulnerable refugees has already been suspended, and that additional funding is needed to continue supporting approximately 200,000 others beyond September.
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By July 2025, UNHCR will also halt support for education programs targeting out-of-school children, including literacy and numeracy classes, affecting roughly 15,000 displaced Syrian children.
Abou Khaled noted that the worsening situation may create an opportunity to encourage more Syrian refugees to consider returning home, though she stressed that conditions inside Syria remain dire, with millions still in urgent need of humanitarian aid.
UNHCR and its partners in Lebanon have developed a voluntary return plan for 2025, aiming to assist about 400,000 Syrian refugees, including 5,000 Palestinians from Syria, to return. The plan includes logistical and documentation support to facilitate the process.
