Fire hits Syrian refugee camp in Lebanon

By Wasim Saif al-Din

BEIRUT (AA) - A big fire broke out in a Syrian refugee camp in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley on Sunday, amid reports of casualties.

Medical sources said the blaze in the camp in Al-Mandara district has caused some fatalities, but without giving further details.

The cause of the fire is not yet known.

Lebanon is hosting more than one million refugees from Syria, which fell into a devastating civil war in 2011 after the Bashar al-Assad regime violently cracked down on pro-democracy protests.

Around 34 percent of the Syrian refugees in Lebanon live in the Bekaa Valley, according to UN figures.