From tents to apartments: A look at Syrian refugee residences in Lebanon

In Lebanon, there are three types of residences for Syrian refugees: rental housing, camps, and what are known as informal camps scattered from north to south. 

It should be noted that this type of informal camp is more prevalent in certain regions, which include:

The Akkar plain and the Akkar outskirts.

The northern Bekaa Valley extends to the western Bekaa Valley.

The Keserwan coast, specifically in Tabarja.

According to a survey conducted by Statistics Lebanon, there are approximately 4,000 informal camps, each with between 8 and 300 tents, housing refugees who have entered Lebanon either legally or illegally.

Camp 021 is one of five camps in the Saadnayel area of the Bekaa Valley.

According to Statistics Lebanon, around 8.5% of refugees are not included in the statistics because their places of residence are not identified or distributed in remote and uninhabited areas.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has thrown the ball in the court of the Lebanese government. UNHCR sources considered that all the camps are makeshift tent settlements established informally, especially in rural areas, collective housing, or even in residential apartments in cities, due to the Lebanese government's policy of rejecting the establishment of official camps.