9 stories for 2026-03-11 · Refugees, displacement & migrant rights
BBC Arabic documented testimonies from detainees and deportees of Sudanese and Syrian nationality. Human rights reports describe a broad security campaign targeting refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants in Egypt during December and January.
Syrian journalist Samer Mukhtar was deported from Egypt to Syria without being able to retrieve his young Egyptian-national child, despite previous attempts to renew his residency. The case has drawn human rights concerns and solidarity support, and has renewed debate about Egypt's deportation and detention campaigns targeting refugees.
The Libyan coast guard rescued 70 undocumented migrants from the Mediterranean Sea off eastern Libya. The migrants were brought to a naval base in Tobruk. The operation was part of efforts to prevent migrant smuggling to Europe.
The International Organization for Migration reported the interception and return of more than 700 migrants to Libya during one week, with over 2,500 intercepted since the start of the year. Among those intercepted were 212 women and 61 children. Libya's coastal waters remain part of one of the world's most dangerous migration routes across the Mediterranean.
Approximately 400 families from the Afrin region in rural Aleppo have returned to their homes following an agreement with the SDF (Kurdish-led coalition). The families had been displaced for several years before this return.
The Syrian president issued a decree establishing a committee tasked with preparing infrastructure in damaged areas to facilitate the return of residents to those regions.
Young people in Gaza are searching for work, taking on difficult jobs like stone cleaning to find employment opportunities. The situation reflects broader economic challenges facing the population.
A school in Sidon, Lebanon has opened its facilities to receive Lebanese civilians displaced from the south. UN agencies reported on Tuesday that the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon has intensified during the wider Middle East conflict, with 84 children killed and over 667,000 registered internally displaced persons in the country. The lives of many have been upended by the ongoing situation.
A migrant from Sierra Leone was killed in Tunisia. The incident reflects a pattern of hate speech that has escalated into violence against migrants in the country.