Lebanon

Today, Lebanon is facing a severe and rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis as Israeli airstrikes and incursions continue. The growing crisis in Lebanon is part of the wider conflict in the Middle East, which escalated on February 28, when the United States and Israel launched a major military assault on Iran.

While we have had to suspend some of our regular activities in Lebanon due to Israeli forces’ displacement orders and lack of security guarantees for staff, we are adapting to ensure continuity of care for patients.

MSF teams are running two clinics (Bourj Hammoud in the Beirut suburbs and Hermel in the Bekaa Valley), and 13 mobile clinics across the country. Our teams provide primary health care, mental health support, sexual and reproductive health care, and referrals to hospitals. We also support 16 hospitals and 21 primary health care clinics.

Across Lebanon, MSF teams have distributed more than 256,000 gallons of drinking water and essential relief items like blankets and hygiene kits to thousands of displaced people, including children and the elderly.

Our teams have also launched a mental health helpline to support distressed people in remote or hard-to-access areas, as well as a localized telemedicine service.

MSF activities in 2025

Despite a November 2024 ceasefire agreement between Israel and the armed group Hezbollah, Israeli attacks on the country continued in 2025, preventing people’s recovery and taking a further toll on their mental health.

In war-affected areas, civilian infrastructure was severely damaged or destroyed, including health care facilities. MSF sent mobile clinics to conduct general and mental health consultations for people struggling to access medical services in Nabatiyeh, South, Bekaa, and Baalbek-Hermel governorates. We also rehabilitated three health centers in South governorate to restore care for returnees and displaced people who otherwise would have gone without. 

While some Syrian refugees who had been living in Lebanon have returned to Syria, 2025 saw several new influxes of people seeking refuge from violence and fears of persecution back home. We sent mobile clinics to Baalbek-Hermel and Akkar governorates to respond to the immediate health needs of refugees arriving at the northern and northeastern borders.

In Tripoli, a city in North governorate experiencing severe economic hardship, we maintained our support for a network of healthcare centers. This support included donating medicines and providing technical and financial assistance. Our clinics in Hermel and Arsal in Baalbek-Hermel, and Bourj Hammoud and Bourj Al-Barajneh, in the suburbs of Beirut, offered comprehensive health services to communities who are otherwise excluded from care, such as Palestinian and Syrian refugees, and migrant workers from Africa and southeast Asia. For these communities, the high cost of medical care, a lack of local facilities, and uncertain legal status can prevent many from accessing services.

At the end of the year, we closed our Bourj Al-Barajneh clinic, where we had been working for more than a decade, as part of our strategy to move toward supporting public health facilities providing similar services to the community.