Thousands of Sudanese migrant women have been caught up in the Lebanese conflict after fleeing civil war in Sudan. A church in Beirut has become their temporary shelter, but capacity was exceeded long ago.
Over 14,800 Sudanese nationals are currently residing in Lebanon, many of them women and children who first fled the civil war in Sudan and were then caught up in the new conflict in Lebanon, Al Jazeera reports in a long-form feature published on July 24, 2026. Their stories reveal a double trauma: losing their homes in Sudan, and then being displaced again in the country where they sought safety.
In Beirut's Ashrafieh district, an old church built in 1875 modeled after the Saint-Marc chapel in Lyon has become a temporary home for hundreds of displaced Sudanese and South Sudanese. Parish priest Father Michael Petro told Al Jazeera how the refugees appeared almost immediately after the escalation of the conflict. 'They showed up because they asked community leaders what to do, and they were told to come here, because this is the first place they trusted,' Petro said. The church reached its capacity of 250 people by the second day of the war, and since then more than 100 people have been turned away for lack of space.
One of those who found shelter in the church is Rufaida, a pregnant Sudanese woman who arrived in Lebanon fleeing the conflict that broke out in Sudan in April 2023. Her husband Mohammad describes the daily hardships: lack of clothing for the newborn, poor nutrition affecting the health of the nursing mother and baby, and a chronic shortage of protein and vegetables. Rufaida eventually gave birth by cesarean section, and the entire cost of the pregnancy, including prenatal check-ups, delivery and vaccines for baby Ahmad, was covered by the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) and its partner programs. 'It gave me comfort and peace to be able to give birth in a safe environment,' Rufaida told Al Jazeera.
Rufaida and Mohammad also describe unpleasant experiences at Karatina hospital, where, according to them, doctors systematically gave priority to Lebanese patients. After three hours of waiting, the JRS staff member accompanying them intervened and helped them get admitted. Tensions are also present inside the church: 'Because of the atmosphere and mental health issues, small problems become big. I said good morning to someone, and they didn't like it,' Rufaida describes. She and Mohammad emphasize that they understand why friction occurs, given that many of those staying there have been through war, loss of home, and years of uncertainty.
According to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM, the UN migration agency) from August 2025, there are 164,097 migrants in Lebanon, of whom 14,854 are Sudanese nationals. That number represents only a small portion of the total 4.4 million Sudanese who have left their country since the outbreak of civil war in April 2023. Some Sudanese migrants arrived in Lebanon on tourist visas, while others worked as domestic workers or doormen under the so-called kafala system, which ties a migrant's legal residency to their employer. Human Rights Watch has described this system as a form of modern slavery in the worst cases. Around 3,800 Sudanese in Lebanon are registered as refugees with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), and that agency's registration card provides some protection from detention and deportation, as well as the possibility of resettlement to a third country.
The story of Rufaida and Mohammad is not an exception. Al Jazeera reports that more and more Sudanese migrant women in Lebanon are experiencing double displacement: first from Sudan due to the conflict there, and then from Lebanon due to the escalation of war on Lebanese soil. Among them is 30-year-old Roudaina Mustafa, a registered refugee who hopes for eventual resettlement to a third country. The fates of these women show how humanitarian crises intertwine and intensify, leaving the most vulnerable without a safe place to call home.
