Syrian refugees in Lebanon drop below 1mn for first time since 2014 – UN

The number of registered Syrian refugees in Lebanon has dropped to below 1 million for the first time since 2014, AFP reported on Tuesday, citing the UN. As of the end of November, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) counted 997,905 Syrian refugees – the vast majority of them women and children – registered in Lebanon. “The number reached 1 million in April 2014, and this is the first time it drops below that,” according to UNHCR spokeswoman Lisa Abou Khaled. Numbers were decreasing, Abou Khaled said, as refugees had resettled in third countries, returned to their homes in Syria, or passed away. From 2011 until September this year, nearly 49,000 Syrians left Lebanon as part of the UN’s resettlement program to third countries including the US, Sweden, and France.