BEIRUT, June 20 (Xinhua) -- As the first light of day filtered through the canvas walls of his tent in southern Lebanon, 48-year-old Abu Mohammad Jihad al-Omari carefully packed the last of his family's belongings. His wife folded clothes and blankets into large bags while their children loaded luggage onto an aging vehicle waiting outside.
Within hours, the family would begin a journey they had postponed for years - returning to Syria after seeking refuge in Lebanon.
"When we fled Syria, we were escaping war. I never imagined I would experience similar circumstances again," said al-Omari.
Al-Omari's family is among a growing number of Syrian refugees forced to embark on the journey home as the security situation in Lebanon increasingly deteriorates amid Israel's continued military campaign.
At Marj al-Khoukh camp near the southern city of Marjayoun, signs of departure were everywhere - worn blankets, abandoned cupboards, and household items left behind by departing families. At another camp, the Marjayoun Plain, rows of tents stood largely empty. Once home to more than 1,400 Syrian refugees, around 85 percent of families have returned to Syria in recent months through voluntary return programs or their own initiatives.
According to Lisa Abou Khaled, spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), around 630,000 registered Syrian refugees returned from Lebanon to Syria between January 2025 and April 2026. Between March 2 and June 11, 2026, 130 Syrian refugees were killed and 153 injured in Lebanon.
She said return decisions depend on several factors, including access to housing, education, basic services and livelihood opportunities in Syria. However, the increasing insecurity in Lebanon has accelerated many refugees' plans to leave.
Sixty-year-old Khawla Murad was also preparing to leave. "We endured difficult living conditions and economic hardships here, but we could no longer endure the fear," she said.
"When children started waking up at midnight to terrifying sounds of airstrikes, that's when we realized it was time to go back."
Another refugee, Sanaa al-Huwaili, who was displaced from Syria's Idlib province, said the sounds of airstrikes had revived painful memories of displacement.
"The children who were born here do not understand the reasons behind war, but they understand fear," al-Huwaili said. "Whenever they hear explosions, they run inside the tent."
According to Lebanese authorities, approximately 1.5 million displaced Syrians are living in Lebanon, some of them in more than 1,400 informal camps across the country, placing significant social, economic and service-related pressures on the host nation.
"No one easily leaves a place where they have lived for years," al-Huwaili said. "Life may be difficult in Syria, but staying here amid daily fear has become even harder."
Back in Marj al-Khoukh camp, al-Omari climbed into the vehicle carrying his family's belongings and prepared to leave the place he had called home for years. Like many others heading across the border, he does not know what awaits him in Syria. But as the vehicle pulled away from the camp, the decision had already been made. ■
