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Damascus- “It was a terrifying night. We walked for two hours through rocks and mud until we reached a side road where a passenger car was waiting for us, which took us to the Bekaa, and from there we easily moved to Beirut“Says Heba Samaan, a Syrian who entered last month Lebanon Irregularly through a rugged mountain road in the Wadi Khaled border in northeastern Lebanon.
Heba (28 years old), a hairdresser, added to Al Jazeera Net, “I had no other choice. I remained unemployed for nearly 4 months after the beauty shop where I worked was closed.” Syria Because of the scarcity of customers.
She continues, “Later, I found a job opportunity in Beirut despite the low pay. I receive the equivalent of a daily subsistence monthly, in addition to a small amount that I send monthly to my family in Syria.”
Dangerous journey
Despite the worsening economic crisis that the neighboring country is going through, and the poor conditions of refugees there, thousands of Syrians in regime-controlled areas continue to migrate to Lebanon through irregular crossings, most of which are concentrated in the area. Qalamoun Western Syria, Wadi Khaled, and Medina The short one.
Refugees go through a journey surrounded by many risks, most notably being robbed or kidnapped by groups of smugglers or bandits.
Last Thursday, the Lebanese army announced that it had thwarted an attempt by 700 Syrians to infiltrate from Syrian territory towards Lebanon during the past two weeks alone.
Over the past few months, the army has repeatedly announced similar operations through which it thwarted Syrian smuggling and infiltration across the border within the framework of “combatting people smuggling and illegal infiltration into Lebanese territory.”
The specter of hunger has been looming over millions of Syrians for years under the weight of the worsening economic crisis in the country, an unprecedented rise in the prices of basic food and consumer goods, and a sharp decline in the purchasing value of Syrian salaries, the average of which in the public sector does not exceed 250 thousand liras (about 17 dollars), while To 600 thousand (about 41 dollars) in the private sector.
Heba Semaan attributes her main motivation for seeking refuge in Lebanon to the deteriorating living conditions in Syria.
Below the poverty line
She says, “During the past months, I had to sell half of my home furniture to be able to cover the minimum needs of the house, and to secure my mother’s medicine, the price of which has risen by about two-fold recently.”
She continues, “The situation in Beirut remains better than in other countries.” Damascus And its countryside in terms of job opportunities and wages. Today, I can save $100 and send it monthly to my family, while in Syria, my total monthly income did not exceed 700 thousand liras ($48).”
Since 2021, about 90% of Syrians have been living below the poverty line, according to UN reports.
About 12.1 million Syrians – more than half the population – suffer from food insecurity, according to the latest reports. World Food Programme For theTo the United Nations.
In addition to the economic crisis and the deteriorating living conditions in Syria, thousands of young men are resorting to leaving the country to escape forced conscription into the regime’s army.
Lebanon becomes a suitable option for these young people in light of the strict restrictions imposed by other neighboring countries, such as: Türkiye AndJordan Against smuggling operations on its borders with the Syrian side.
Youssef (23 years old), a recent graduate of the Faculty of Commerce and Economics at Damascus University, says he plans to cross the border with Lebanon before his conscription postponement for compulsory military service expires at the end of next month.
He added to Al Jazeera Net, “With the end of my postponement in the army, I have two options. Either I remain locked in my apartment or my neighborhood for an unknown period, or I cross the border to Lebanon to smuggle, and I try to work and save whatever money I have to immigrate to Europe.”
He concludes, “This is how the dreams of thousands of young Syrians transform from striving for a bright future to merely trying to escape a slow death, through depression and poverty.”
Syrians choose irregular migration routes to Lebanon due to their lower costs compared to regular migration, in which the traveler is required to be a renter or owner of a property in Lebanon in order to be granted Lebanese residency, or to be coming for a business visit, hotel reservation, or embassy appointment with identification papers, so he is granted an entry permit. for a temporary period.
According to a group of migrants who were contacted by Al Jazeera Net, the cost of the smuggling trip from Syria to Lebanon ranges between $100 and $120 per person.
Difficult conditions
Syrians – both residents and refugees – are living in difficult circumstances in Lebanon with the deteriorating economic conditions in the country, successive Lebanese governments following policies to limit Syrian asylum, and some political parties using refugees as a card to pressure their opponents, which fosters racist tendencies against them.
Organization said Human Rights WatchLast July, Lebanon deported thousands of Syrians, including unaccompanied children, without respecting legal procedures, in the period between April and May 2023.
The organization adds that although there are no official general statistics on the numbers of arrests or deportations, a humanitarian source reported that since April 2023, more than 100 raids, 2,200 arrests, and 1,800 deportations of Syrian refugees have been carried out. Humanitarian workers said that the wave of deportations in 2023 was the most serious.
In light of Damascus’s seeming welcome of the return of refugees, most of the infrastructure in the areas from which the refugees left is still destroyed, while most neighborhoods in those cities are not or barely reach services.
United Nations figures indicate that about 3.9 million people in Lebanon are in need of humanitarian assistance, including 1.5 million Syrians, and that Lebanon hosts the largest number of refugees compared to its population.
Observers confirm the involvement of members of the Fourth Division in Syrian army led by Maher Al-Assadthe president’s brother Bashar al-AssadIn facilitating human smuggling operations from the Syrian side in exchange for quotas and royalties paid by smugglers.
The Minister of Immigration in the Lebanese caretaker government, Issam Sharaf al-Din, revealed, in a statement to the “Voice of All Lebanon” newspaper last September, that the number of Syrian refugees who entered through irregular crossings exceeded 20,000 refugees from the beginning of 2023 until August. the past.
He added that the length of the border between the two countries (387 kilometers) makes it difficult for the Lebanese army to control it tightly, which continuously activates smuggling operations across it.
According to statements by the Director General of Lebanese Public Security, the estimated number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon reached about two million and 100 thousand refugees, and there are about 800 thousand of them registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and they constitute the equivalent of 43% of the Lebanese population.
