4 Injured in Brawl between Lebanese, Syrians in Shebaa

Four people were wounded on Sunday in a brawl between Lebanese citizens and Syrian refugees in the southern town of Shebaa, state-run National News Agency reported.

“A financial dispute between a number of Lebanese residents and Syrian refugees escalated into a fistfight involving the use of batons and knives,” NNA said.

The clash left four people injured and one of them, Mohammed Ahmed Hijazi from Syria's Beit Jinn, was transferred to the Hasbaya Hospital, the agency added.

“Shebaa's dignitaries are seeking to resolve the dispute,” it said.

U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos concluded on Friday a two-day visit to Lebanon during which she addressed the burden Syrian refugees are posing on the country.

She told An Nahar daily that the refugees comprise around 25 to 30 percent of Lebanon's population.

Such figures would pose a massive burden on any country's infrastructure, she remarked.

The Lebanese government is trying to meet the needs of its people and it is also seeking to manage the tensions that are emerging on the ground as a result of the burden, noted Amos.

There are more than 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Well over half of them are living in insecure dwellings – up from a third last year. The country has struggled to cope with their burden since the eruption of the Syrian conflict in March 2011.

Y.R.