A Syrian refugee set himself on fire Thursday in front of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Beirut, before he was rescued and taken to a hospital for treatment, a spokesperson for the organization confirmed to Agence France-Presse.

"In a tragic incident this morning, a Syrian refugee set himself on fire near the UNHCR reception center in Beirut," the UNHCR said in an email.

She explained that the security men at the UNHCR worked to save him before the Lebanese Civil Defense members transferred him to the hospital to receive medical care.

The Commission did not specify the reasons that led him to set the fire himself, but a security source told France Press that the 58-year-old man tried to kill himself because he was unable to provide medical care for his terminally ill child.

Lebanon estimates that there are 1.5 million Syrian refugees on its soil, about one million of whom are registered with the UNHCR. They live in difficult humanitarian conditions, exacerbated by the economic crisis that has ravaged Lebanon for more than a year, then the outbreak of the coronavirus and finally the horrific explosion of the port.

More than half of Lebanon's population now lives below the poverty line, with tens of thousands losing their jobs or sources of income due to the accelerating economic collapse and the decline in their purchasing power with the deterioration of the exchange rate of the lira.

Refugees and marginalized groups were not kept away from the repercussions of the crisis. Dozens of them tried in recent months to flee illegally across the sea in unequipped boats towards Cyprus.