Some Syrian refugees, crammed into camps and lacking everything amid bombings on the Lebanese-Israeli border, are considering crossing the Mediterranean to reach Europe.
Published on February 18, 2024 09:41
Reading time: 2 minutes
Children play in a refugee camp in southern Lebanon, not far from the Lebanese-Israeli border. February 2024. (ARTHUR SARRADIN / RADIOFRANCE)
After four months of war between Israel and Hamas on the Gaza front, the conflict has spread to southern Lebanon. A hidden war between the Lebanese Hezbollah, the support of the Palestinian Hamas and the Israeli army.
The border between the two countries is the scene of daily bombings: according to a count by the daily L'Orient-Le Jour, at least 248 people have been killed since October 8, including 37 civilians and 178 Hezbollah fighters. Most residents have fled, but some are too poor to leave the area. Among them are Syrian refugees who have been living in very precarious conditions in the south of the country for years and are caught in a new war.
A stone's throw from the Lebanese-Israeli border, Houda and his family huddle under a makeshift tent. In this muddy camp in the heart of the conflict zone, they live to the rhythm of attacks that have been directed at the surrounding hills every day for 134 days. “There is war in Syria and now she is complaining in Lebanon too. The situation is getting worse and worse. We are scared. My daughter has become mute because she is so afraid. Every explosion scares us at night. My husband wanted to leave but we don't have money to escape anywhere else.
Lives destroyed by wars
The traumas of the war in Syria are returning. The family lacks everything: Khaled, in his mid-forties, worked on the farms in the neighboring village for a few dollars a day. Fields that have become inaccessible due to bombing. “We collect plastic and take out loans to survive,” he says. “But since the war began, no one has loaned us any more money. The Lebanese are getting help, boxes of food.” “We haven’t seen anyone for four months.” . No NGO comes here anymore. We need sugar, rice, bread. The United Nations has failed us.”
In order to warm the few square meters where the twelve sleep, the grandmother burns waste in an old wood stove. Next to her, Miled, father of four children, has been living here as a refugee since 2014. He is originally from Idlib province in Syria, a region also devastated by war. “In Syria and in Lebanon we died. What did we do to deserve this? God has cursed the Syrian people. Our lives are destroyed. We no longer have a future,” he said.
“I'm 40 years old, it's over for me, but I think about my children: there is no one who knows how to write their first name. There is no school.”
Miled, Syrian refugee
at franceinfo
“Our situation was difficult before, but since the war started in October, life has become impossible,” he added. Before we leave, Miled confesses his intention to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe with his family. A new exile on a makeshift boat, at risk of life.
Testimonies of Syrian refugees in southern Lebanon: report by Noé Pignède
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