How is Lebanon Dealing with the Massive Influx of Syrian Refugees?
This post is part of our special coverage Surviving in Syria
“A classroom at a school for Syrian refugees in Lebanon near the border with Syria. 280 students attend,” tweets Derek Stoffel (@DerekStoffelCBC)
Lebanon is now home to about one million Syrian refugees – or around a quarter of its own population.
In a series of tweets, Josh Wood, a freelance journalist based in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, shares with us this story, which he says “sums up how bad relations are between the Lebanese and the massive number of refugees” in the country:
Yesterday @mgdowney gave kids at refugee gathering in S. Lebanon a soccer ball to stop them swarming camera (and because he's a nice guy)1/3
— Josh Wood (@woodenbeirut) September 29, 2013
Today we return. Soccer ball was accidentally kicked over wall into hospital grounds. Policeman nearby cut it in half, threw it back. (2/3)
— Josh Wood (@woodenbeirut) September 29, 2013
The whole incident kind of summed up how bad relations are between Lebanese and the massive number of Syrian refugee now in country (3/3)
— Josh Wood (@woodenbeirut) September 29, 2013
He continues to explain:
Syrian refugee on Lebanese visitors to gathering: "They don't drink coffee or tea. They wash their hands after they shake hands with us"
— Josh Wood (@woodenbeirut) September 29, 2013
Earlier tonight, Wood tweets another snippet of the ordeal some refugees face in Lebanon:
Beirut: Refugee kid (8 years old maybe?) sleeps in box across the street from bars. Couple make out next to box. Parents killed in Aleppo
— Josh Wood (@woodenbeirut) October 1, 2013
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt puts it in black and white:
Today 20-25% of total population of Lebanon are Syrian refugees. Would be app 2 million in Sweden. We must show solidarity.
— Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) September 23, 2013
Altogether, some two million Syrians have fled the war in their country to neighbouring countries, mostly Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq, over the past 30 months. Millions more are believed to have left their homes to other areas within Syria to escape the conflict.
Meanwhile, Syrian activist Amal Hanano says Syrian refugees should be helped to return to their homes. She explains:
The solution is not building permanent homes for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, it's helping the refugees go back to their homes. #Syria
— Amal Hanano (@AmalHanano) September 27, 2013
This post is part of our special coverage Surviving in Syria
3 comments
These are individual cases that mean nothing really. I mean this boy sleeping in a box??? Is that your argument? The policeman cutting the ball in half??? that is so weak. If you haven’t realized these refugees are a liability to our economy and raise our crime rate. Basically during the Lebanese civil war we were not flocking to Syria and causing them problems, we stood and we fought like they should have! If only we could deport this filth from our godforsaken country
As a fellow Lebanese, I can only say to whoever is reading that not all of us have sunk so low as to call innocent men, women and children “filth”. You should be ashamed.