Following the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in November 2024, hope began to return to Lebanon. In the first 24 hours of the ceasefire, nearly 580,000 displaced people started to make the journey back to their homes and communities. Yet for many families, the journey to recovery and return is only beginning.
According to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, the mid-September 2024 escalations in Lebanon saw a dramatic increase in hostilities, with sustained and heavy airstrikes in the South, Bekaa, and Baalbek regions, as well as the densely populated urban areas of southern Beirut. This resulted in close to 900,000 individuals displaced internally at the height of the crisis, with some 190,000 staying in collective shelters, mostly schools. With such widespread devastation, humanitarian assistance remains a critical lifeline to those most vulnerable.
To support those most affected, USA for UNHCR partnered with Embrace Relief USA to deliver $100,000 in zakat-eligible cash-based assistance in Lebanon. This support ensures displaced families have the dignity and flexibility to meet their most urgent needs, whether it’s food, shelter, heating or rebuilding what they’ve lost.
Through this partnership, Embrace Relief USA’s support for USA for UNHCR is empowering people to take their first steps home and to rebuild their lives with resilience and dignity.
Stories of Strength and Survival
Chahed’s Return to Baalbek
Eighteen-year-old Chahed Chemaly (center), posting with her friends, returned to her hometown of Baalbek in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley just days after the ceasefire. She and twenty-nine of her family members fled their homes in September 2024 after witnessing a missile strike.
“The missile fell here, in front of the Roman ruins. I saw it with my own eyes,” Chahed recalls.
Leaving her city was heartbreaking. “I cried a lot. I didn’t want to leave. It’s my place, my land. I want to stay here forever.”
Embrace Relief USA’s support of cash-based assistance has allowed Chahed and her family to rebuild in the place they call home with the power of choice. Cash assistance provides families with the self-reliance and dignity to choose what to prioritize, whether it be to pay their rent, buy medicine, pay off debts or even start businesses.
© UNHCR/Ximena Borrazas
© UNHCR/Ximena Borrazas
Pappito’s Café in Tyre
For Moustafa “Pappito” Gorayeb, a business owner who runs Pappito Café in Tyre, Lebanon, the ceasefire meant returning to the life and family as they were before hostilities began.
Standing in front of the bombed building with his son, he reflected on the losses. But with Embrace Relief USA’s zakat-eligible support, Pappito and his family now have the means to cover the costs of his business, his children’s education and health care needs.
Halia’s Return Home
Lebanese refugee Halia Al-Ashaal is one of the many people finding their way home after crossing back into Lebanon through the Joussieh border point.
Halia, who is in her 70s, fled to Syria alone in September 2024 and stayed in Homs, where her daughter has lived for 30 years. Although her house in war-torn Hermel, in Lebanon’s Baalbek-Hermel region, has been severely damaged by shelling, Halia is happy to return home.
Embrace Relief USA’s support of cash-based assistance has allowed Halia to rebuild her life in the place she has always known as home.
© UNHCR/Ximena Borrazas
A Path Forward
USA for UNHCR’s and Embrace Relief USA’s partnership is an important step for helping restore stability and dignity to thousands of displaced families in Lebanon. Despite the challenges, zakat-eligible cash assistance from Embrace Relief USA provides flexibility, dignity and hope. Together, we can help ensure that those who have lost so much have the means to rebuild — one step, one choice and one community at a time.
