Three infants found abandoned in Lebanon in one week

Three infants have been found abandoned by their families in Lebanon this week, in a worrying sign of Lebanon's worsening economic collapse.

On Wednesday night, two infants were found abandoned in a box near a riverbank in northern Lebanon.

"Thank God for the person that found those infants. If he hadn't seen them, they definitely would have died," Father Majdi el-Allawi, a priest who heads an orphanage that has taken care of the children, told The New Arab.

El-Allawi said that the two children, a three-month-old and a one-year-old, were dangerously cold and hungry when found on the bank of the Ibrahim River.

Just a day prior, an infant was found abandoned in the northern city of Tripoli. The four-month-old was discovered in a plastic rubbish bag being carried by a stray dog.

Both cases of abandoned children sparked outrage across Lebanon.

"Where is the mercy? Where is the humanity? What is this world without a conscience?" Elie Merheb, a Lebanese journalist, said on Twitter.

" طفلة حديثة الولادة داخل كيس أسود يجرّها كلب في طرابلس! "
اغتصاب ؟؟؟ ما بدك ولاد ؟؟؟ بالغلط حبلتي ؟؟؟ شو ما كان السبب في الف حل من انو ترمي طفل بكيس زبالة على الطريق !
يا جماعة وين الرحمة وين الانسانية شو في عالم بلا ضمير .. ناس بتموت على ولد وناس بتموِّت الولد ! pic.twitter.com/dSuJQ6XvSy

— Elie Merheb (@_ElieMerheb) July 19, 2023

The abandonments occur as Lebanon enters its fourth year of economic crisis, with the national currency losing 98 per cent of its value and the price of food and medicine exceeding average salaries.

"The number of [these cases] are increasing. But it's not an excuse to throw your child away if you can't afford food or medicine. Because you could have left them in front of a charity," Father el-Allawi said.

According to the latest UN figures, over three-fourths of Lebanon's population lives in poverty.