Syrian Civil War and refugee crisis (2012–2019)
On 17 September 2012, Syrian ground-attack aircraft fired three missiles across the border into Lebanese territory near Arsal. It was suggested that the jets were pursuing rebels. The attack prompted Lebanese president Michel Sleiman to launch an investigation, whilst not publicly blaming Syria for the incident.
Five days later, armed members of the Free Syrian Army attacked a nearby border post; the group was driven off into the hills by the Lebanese Army, which detained and later released some rebels due to pressure from locals. Sleiman praised the army's response as consistent with Lebanon's neutrality.
By September 2012, 1,400 Syrian refugee children had been displaced into the town, whose had capacity for only 100 students, contributing to a wider strain on the Beqaa region's education system.
On 2 February 2013, the Lebanese army was ambushed in the town while attempting to arrest Khaled Homayed reportedly linked to Fatah al-Islam and the 2011 Estonian cyclists abduction; two officers were killed Residents refused to assist the army in locating the gunmen.
In August 2014, ISIS and its allies launched a full-scale assault on the town; the Battle of Arsal with Lebanese troops lasted for five days before the militants were pushed back to Syria. By January 2016 a local newspaper reported reported 10,000 Syrian refugees within Arsal itself and a further 100,000 in dozens surrounding camps. A separate estimate put the figure at 50,000.
On 21 July 2017, a Syrian Army commander said that his forces and Hezbollah had launched a joint offensive to recapture the remaining territory under militant control near the Lebanon-Syria border, striking the outskirts of Arsal; the Lebanese Army took up a defensive position in the town.
In 2019, the Lebanese government ordered the demolition of refugee shelters built of hollow blocks over the preceding years,. According to the UNHCR, citing missing building permits. According to UNHCR, the order affected roughly 2,300 shelters in 17 camps around Arsal and up to 15,000 people, of whom about half are children. the use of bulldozers also destroyed furniture, water tanks, and household goods inside the shelters, and only tents were subsequently permitted for Syrian residents.
Aftermath of the fall of the Assad regime (2024–present)
Following the fall of the Assad regime, in December 2024, Lebanon and UNHCR began coordinating a voluntary return programme for Syrian refugees; by September 2025, UNHCR estimated roughly 200,000 Syrian refugees had returned from Lebanon to Syria. Camps around Arsal were among those affected by the resulting population movement; ''The National'' reported lories carrying refugees' belongings departing a camp in Arsal for Syria in mid-2025 as part of a wider return wave.
Lebanon's government launched an Organized Voluntary Return Plan in July 2025 aiming to facilitate the return of 200,000 to 400,000 refugees by the end of the year, including a $100 payment per returnee and a waiver of residency-related fines. The movement was not one directional, a March 2025 report by the century International think tank found that roughly 90,000 people crossed form Syrian into the Lebanon's Baalbek-Hermel governorate, the district containing Arsal, in the immediate aftermath of Assad's fall, as instability in Syria prompted some to flee in the opposite direction. Refugee intentions to return have fluctuated since December 2024: a survey by the International Rescue Committee found the share of Syrian refugees in Lebanon willing to return fell from 18.2 percent immediately after Assad's fall to 9 percent by March 2025.
Lebanon
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