Khaled al-Jeratli | Hani Karazi

Syria has witnessed a new and unprecedented wave of displacement in recent weeks, with around half a million Syrians and Lebanese forced to cross the border in search of safety and stability amidst the Israeli strikes on Lebanon and the ground invasion in its south.

However, the displacement towards Syria, a country living under complex security and economic situations, presents new challenges for these displaced individuals, as they are scattered between areas controlled by the Syrian regime and those controlled by the Syrian opposition in northern Syria, as well as in areas under the control of the Autonomous Administration in eastern Syria.

While the level of response varies from area to area, the challenges faced by the displaced range from access to healthcare and education to coping with pressures from economic hardships and security restrictions. Amid a clear absence of international or local coordination to address their situations, these displaced individuals find themselves in a daily struggle to seek a livelihood and a safe place.

While international and local organizations rushed to provide initial support to the Lebanese displaced and returning Syrians, local authorities appeared unable to accommodate the numbers of refugees scattered across various Syrian regions, or were looking for political gains to be achieved through this file.

Enab Baladi discusses in this report the reality of returning Syrians and Lebanese refugees through interviews with displaced families, relying on statements from local and international officials, and contrasting these with the opinions of experts and researchers, as well as reports released by UN organizations on the response to waves of displacement.

Back to ground zero 

As Syria is the only land passage for Lebanon to the world, the two neighboring countries share six official crossings and many unofficial ones, making Syria the primary destination for those displaced, including Syrians fleeing their country from the regime’s military apparatus since the outbreak of the revolution in 2011, and Lebanese from flaming areas in southern Lebanon.

Searching for shelter

Most of the returnees from Lebanon do not own housing in Syria, as many sold their homes before traveling to Lebanon or did not own property in Syria at all. Others’ homes were subjected to bombing and destruction due to the battles, or were seized by intelligence services and militias, leaving them without shelter, while rental prices continue to rise.

Muwafaq al-Rahmoun left for Lebanon in 2019 and lived in the Noury area of Beirut, returning recently to northern Homs countryside, but was shocked by what he described as “insane rental prices”, forcing him to live with his parents in their small house.

Al-Rahmoun had been working in Lebanon painting walls, earning about 20 dollars a day, but after returning to his area, he found no job in his profession, as people are content to live under one roof and four walls without caring for painting the house, he expressed, so he decided to work in poultry farming.

As for Fares al-Mohammad (36 years old), he decided to live with his wife and two children in the Ras al-Ain camp in northwestern al-Hasakah after spending five years in Lebanon.

Al-Mohammad told Enab Baladi that the greatest difficulties he faced were finding shelter, so he was forced to stay in a displacement camp, sharing a tent with a relative.

Today, al-Mohammad sits in his tent unable to find a job, spending what he saved during the years he spent in Lebanon in various professions (construction sites, guarding, agriculture), noting that he spent most of his savings on the journey fleeing to Syria.

Al-Mohammad has not received any assistance from humanitarian organizations and relied on what some relatives provided him to secure bedding, blankets, and some cooking tools, and he is thinking of working in construction outside the Ras al-Ain camp once he feels a bit relieved from the hardship of displacement.

In a camp in Raqqa countryside, Hussein (40 years old) lives after migrating with his family of six from Hermel, Lebanon, back to his hometown.

Hussein told Enab Baladi that his house in Raqqa was destroyed due to the war, as he left Lebanon with nothing but the clothes he was wearing, and he spent what little money he had during the journey of displacement, so he decided to reside in the al-Adnania camp in Raqqa countryside, which lacks services and job opportunities.

No work

After waiting for three days at the Aoun al-Dadat crossing, the displaced were allowed to enter northwestern Syria on October 9, where Ahmad Sheikh Talit (28 years old) was shocked by a new reality, as he had no home and was forced to live with his family of four at a relative’s house until he finds a house for rent.

Rental prices in the Idlib countryside ranged between 150 and 200 dollars, which is a large amount for someone with no job, like Talit, who worked in construction in Lebanon.

“I am very embarrassed in front of my cousin, because a month has passed and I am still living in his house, but I do not have the ability to pay rent in the Maaret Misrin area where I was displaced to, and I have not found work until now,” added Talit.

“We have returned to point zero,” this is how Wassim described his situation after returning from Lebanon to his hometown Tal Shihab in western Daraa countryside.

Wassim worked in the sweets industry in Lebanon, but was shocked by the reality after his return, as he was forced to look for work in the pastry kitchens in Daraa, but the stagnation the sweets market is experiencing led to reduced production and the dismissal of many workers, leaving Wassim without work as if everything he learned in his profession went down the drain.

Bilal (28 years old) returned to his hometown in Daraa after spending years in Lebanon and building a life there. He worked for an electrical tools company, but after his displacement to Syria, he had to work in agriculture for a wage of about 40,000 Syrian pounds a day (around three dollars).

Bilal is the father of five children, and the income from his agricultural work is insufficient to provide for his family, but he is unable to move between Syrian cities for employment for fear of arrest, as he is wanted for compulsory military service.

Four authorities

No national plan

Since the first day of escalation in Lebanon, on September 23, thousands of Lebanese and Syrians have begun their journey of displacement from the Syrian-Lebanese border. With the deep division among control areas in Syria, there is no national plan to deal with the waves of displaced people.

Although the regime announced that around 500 displaced persons have returned to Syria so far, the areas under its control were not the final destination for the displaced. Some crossed into areas controlled by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), while others chose opposition-controlled areas in the northwest. A portion preferred to continue their displacement journey to neighboring countries such as Iraq and Jordan.

The response of the authorities in these areas varied towards the displaced. The Syrian Interim Government (SIG) initially refused to allow the displaced to enter when they reached the Aoun al-Dadat crossing east of Aleppo, but it was forced to open the crossing under popular pressure, only to close it again later. Meanwhile, the Syrian Salvation Government (SSG) in Idlib awaited the passage of displaced individuals from the Interim Government areas to its territory.

AANES took a stance aimed at facilitating the passage of the displaced and refugees, issuing semi-daily figures to account for the number of arrivals.

The regime, on the other hand, reminded everyone of the deteriorating economic situation and the destruction inflicted on the infrastructure, opening its doors to hundreds of thousands of refugees, international organizations, and donor agencies to provide support.

Local authorities lack capacity

In an opinion poll conducted by Enab Baladi through its website and social media platforms, more than 500 people participated, with 62% expressing doubt about the ability of Syrian institutions in various control areas to accommodate the waves of displacement from Lebanon, while 38% believed these authorities could respond appropriately.

The regime is unconcerned.. Organizations taking over the task

In regime-controlled areas, the government prepared 20 centers to shelter the displaced, of which 16 centers received displaced individuals, while the other four centers did not receive any up until mid-October.

Regime government officials have visited the reception centers for the displaced multiple times, but the governmental mechanism adopted to accommodate such large numbers of refugees and displaced persons has yet to be clarified.

In the latest report issued by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) regarding the response to the displacement crisis in Syria, the committee stated that it is closely monitoring the consequences of the ongoing conflict in Lebanon, which has led to the movement of hundreds of thousands of people into Syria, resulting in “huge” humanitarian needs that require efforts for a “rapid and coordinated emergency response” from all relevant authorities and humanitarian agencies.

The ICRC indicated that vital infrastructure in Syria is damaged, including water, electricity, and healthcare.

It added that any additional pressure will create a burden that is difficult to absorb and will require a dedicated and coordinated collective humanitarian response, along with a focus on assisting and protecting everyone, wherever they are.

The ICRC noted in its report that it is working in partnership with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) to assess and meet immediate needs.

As part of its effort to address the needs of arrivals, the ICRC stated that it has provided a range of services, starting with the distribution of 100,000 bottles of water at the border, in Homs, Tartus, Raqqa, Deir Ezzor, and the Damascus countryside, alongside cleaning activities, waste collection, and health services in cooperation with the Syrian Red Crescent supported by it and the Syrian Ministry of Health.

Regarding the capacity of regime-controlled areas to accommodate large numbers of displaced persons and refugees, Karam Shaar, director of the Syrian program at the Syrian Observatory of Political and Economic Networks and an economist, stated that the regime is unconcerned with responding to those fleeing from Lebanon.

He added to Enab Baladi that the regime views the response to the current crisis as a responsibility that should not fall on it, but rather on the shoulders of UN and international organizations, as well as donor countries.

He noted that the proportion of those reaching regime government shelter centers, where the government fully provides services, is very low and barely noticeable, while tens of thousands are settling in centers run by organizations.

AANES is incapable

The situation has not changed much for the Autonomous Administration, which daily announces an increase in the number of arrivals to its areas coming from Lebanon, with the latest statistics indicating that more than 20,000 people have come in as of November 7.

AANES continues to assert that returnees are heading to their homes or relatives; however, for those who have no place to go, centers are designated for their shelter.

AANES officials declined to provide details about the response mechanism in the displacement shelters or the activities of local and international organizations in the area to address the waves of displacement.

Active in the areas controlled by the Autonomous Administration is the Kurdish Red Cross organization, which has reported through its official website on the response to the displacement crisis from Lebanon.

According to the Kurdish Red Crescent, families have been displaced toward camps for Syrian displaced persons in areas of northern Aleppo, noting that some of the displaced are suffering from a lack of shelter and support.

The Kurdish Red Crescent added that its teams have worked to distribute essential supplies such as mattresses, blankets, and kitchen baskets to displaced families in the Sardam camp in northern Aleppo to mitigate their suffering.

The researcher specialized in Kurdish affairs in the Raman Center for Studies, Badr Mulla Rashid, believes that several factors may determine the capacity of the Autonomous Administration to respond to large numbers of displaced persons for extended periods, the most prominent being economic capacity and infrastructure, which suffers from a lack of transparency within the Autonomous Administration. This causes most of the region’s resources to evaporate without the possibility of tracking the balance between revenues and expenses accurately.

Mulla Rashid predicted, in a conversation with Enab Baladi, that the Autonomous Administration will not be able to achieve a long-term response, especially given the region’s suffering from marginalization that predates the war and its long-standing siege and continuous bombardment.

Given that the region suffers from high unemployment rates, this percentage is likely to increase, alongside significant shortages in water, electricity, and basic needs, according to the researcher.

The researcher pointed out that other sectors will increasingly be affected, along with the displaced in areas under Autonomous Administration control, including the education sector, in a region that suffers from the lack of any local or international recognition of its educational institutions.

Limited capabilities in northwestern Syria

After days spent by hundreds of displaced people at the Aoun al-Dadat crossing coming from Lebanon towards eastern Aleppo countryside, where the Interim Government controls, which is the political umbrella for the Syrian National Army (SNA), the authorities allowed them to enter on October 7th.

Despite the spread of video recordings showing large numbers of displaced individuals crossing from Lebanon through Aoun al-Dadat, the Interim Government has not provided any statistics on the number of those crossing into the region.

According to what was mentioned by the Media Office of the Interim Government to Enab Baladi, the entry of families is happening gradually based on procedures that the Interim Government has begun to take to facilitate and organize their entry.

There are civil registration teams sent by the Interim Government to Aoun al-Dadat to document the arriving individuals, collect their personal information, take a personal photo of them, and fingerprint them, granting them a civil registration certificate so they can move around in various areas under opposition control and also review the organizations working in the area and government bodies.

With this process, those arriving from Lebanon will obtain documents issued by the civil registration office to complete these procedures later by obtaining official personal identification cards issued from the registration centers in the area they are in.

In the Idlib region, the Ministry of Development and the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Salvation Government oversaw the reception of displaced individuals from Lebanon, according to video recordings published by Sham News Agency.

The Director of Public Relations at the Ministry of Development in the Salvation Government, Tarek Ali, stated to Enab Baladi that the areas under Salvation Government control received 3,033 displaced individuals from Lebanon, including 2,000 children. He pointed out that the Salvation Government responded immediately to the displacement movement by establishing temporary shelter centers to receive them.

He added that the Salvation Government facilitated the necessary procedures to secure identification documents if they were not available to them, to facilitate their registration processes and secure their rights.

Regarding the response mechanism, Ali stated that the Salvation Government secured temporary shelters for the displaced, coordinating with several humanitarian entities to provide urgent aid, such as emergency relief baskets containing essential items like blankets, sanitary supplies, and food items.

He emphasized that the government is still working in cooperation with local and international humanitarian organizations (which he did not name) to ensure that these aids are distributed in an organized manner.

According to Ali, the displaced individuals still have ongoing basic needs including permanent housing, food baskets, and provision of financial support to cover their urgent needs.

The bombardment carried out by the regime forces and Iranian-backed militias, including Lebanese Hezbollah, towards northwestern Syria has increased the suffering and needs, according to Ali.

Despite the efforts made, the reality requires additional urgent support from humanitarian entities to meet the growing needs of the displaced.

Regarding the sponsorship system in places under the Salvation Government control, Ali mentioned that this system is still in effect and applies to all newcomers, even those who possess identification documents, as a way to verify the identity of incoming individuals wishing to reside in the area.

Both the Salvation Government and the Interim Government as well as the Autonomous Administration require newcomers to their controlled areas to secure a residence sponsor from local residents. This system is still in place across all these areas, prompting the displaced to seek sponsors from the regions they have fled to, in order to be allowed to reside there.

Dr. Ahmad Qurabi, a law scholar and researcher at the Syrian Dialogue Center, believes that the intended response involves securing a range of rights related to displaced persons and refugees, starting from health, education, housing, to preserving property rights, communication, and freedom of movement.

The researcher told Enab Baladi that the Salvation and Interim governments do not have the capacity to make any effort in responding, noting that the internal response for the displaced people in camps, who have been present for years, is managed by civil society organizations and international organizations, with no government intervention.

The researcher considered that the role of these governments is usually limited to coordination, noting that the term response may be “too grand” for these entities.

Financial gap

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, called for securing $324 million to assist those fleeing from Lebanon to Syria due to the Israeli escalation.

During his meeting with Syrian regime leader Bashar al-Assad on October 8th, he confirmed the “urgent need” to rally humanitarian aid and provide more support for early recovery activities, as specified in Security Council resolutions.

Concerning this specific figure for aiding the displaced from Lebanon, allocated funds remain limited. The European Commission allocated, on November 6th, five million euros to meet the most pressing humanitarian needs of those crossing into Syria.

Meanwhile, the UAE government announced on October 7th that it had allocated $30 million to send to the Lebanese displaced in Syria as part of an aid package to assist affected Lebanese.

Several other countries, including Iran, Iraq, and Venezuela, have announced sending aid and providing support to the displaced, alongside the efforts of the European Union and UN organizations.

These figures add to a broader crisis in Syria’s needs, as per the United Nations, which indicates that humanitarian needs in Syria are steadily rising, driven by escalating violence, leading to increased displacement and suffering.

In 2024, 16.7 million people will need humanitarian assistance, the highest number since the crisis began in 2011.

Humanitarian needs in Syria for 2024 are estimated at about $4.07 billion, according to estimates from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

So far, the UN has received only $1.12 billion, covering only 27.5% of the needs.

Unfavorable conditions 

The reality displaced individuals faced upon returning from Lebanon to various controlled areas in Syria made them consider alternative options, a situation many families met by Enab Baladi are experiencing. Some are contemplating returning to Lebanon or have already done so despite the ongoing war, while others have begun searching for ways to reach Turkey or Europe, while some have resigned to their circumstances and decided to stay in Syria.

Attempt to migrate

Wassim, who returned to Tal Shihab in the western Daraa countryside, is thinking about migrating to Europe after being promised by a relative to help cover the migration costs (through illegal means).

The young man told Enab Baladi that he could not adapt to working in agriculture, and that the cost of living is very high, so working in agriculture will not be enough to cover basic living expenses.

Conversely, Fares al-Mohammad, residing in the Ras al-Ain camp, ruled out the idea of returning to Lebanon or seeking asylum in Europe as it is “very costly,” he said, thus deciding to settle in the camp where housing is free, and he will search for work outside the camp.

On the other hand, some displaced individuals could not endure the harsh living conditions in Syria and decided to return to Lebanon. A correspondent for Enab Baladi in Homs observed the return of some Syrian families to Lebanon, particularly those working in the agricultural sector.

The families that decided to leave Syria once again were living in “brakiyat” (wooden homes) on agricultural land in Lebanon, paying a rent of about $200 monthly, but they work on that land and feed their families from its produce.

Deadly threats

The head of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, Paulo Pinheiro, warned that the country is being “drawn into the catastrophic conflict sweeping the region,” pointing to “deadly threats” facing Syrians wherever they go.

During a speech before the UN General Assembly in New York on November 1st, he stated that the flight of Syrians who have reasonable fear of persecution in their homeland underscores the impossible choices they face.

“Do they risk their lives from bombs in Lebanon, or return to a place where they face the same deadly threats?” The Commission chair explained, pointing out that many women and children have started perilous journeys back to Syria alone, due to well-documented patterns of arbitrary detention, forced conscription, and drafting of men of military service age.

Meanwhile, adult male family members either remained behind or risked traveling relying on smugglers.

The Commission is investigating reports of Syrians returning from Lebanon facing abuse or arrest or falling victim to extortion by “violent armed actors” at checkpoints throughout the country.

According to the Commission, multiple barriers impede “safe and voluntary” return, including the ongoing torture and disappearance of detainees while in custody by regime forces, despite an order issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in October to take all measures within its power to prevent such violations.

Human rights reports have documented violations faced by Syrians returning from Lebanon. Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated on October 30th that refugees returning from Lebanon face risks of repression and arrest by regime forces upon their return.

The rights organization reported that Syrians fleeing Lebanon, especially men, risk arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture, and death during detention in regime prisons, noting that it had documented the arrest of four individuals returning from Lebanon after the escalation began in late September.

 

Syria is not safer for return compared to how it was before, but the rising risks in Lebanon leave many Syrians with no other place to go. Their return is not an indication of improved conditions in Syria, but rather a stark reality that they are deprived of safer alternatives and are forced to return to a country where they still face risks of arrest, violations, and death.

Adam Coogle, Deputy Director for the Middle East at Human Rights Watch

 

Security first.. then economy

The executive director of the Baytna Syria organization, Assaad al-Achi, a civil activist and economic expert, attributed the choices of returning displaced individuals first to their security situation and then to their economic situation. If they are wanted by the regime, they will try to leave Syria at any cost and to any destination.

Regarding the economic situation, displaced individuals might endure for a while and try to find work or trade to secure a source of income. If they fail to find work and with dwindling humanitarian support for Syria, their options may lead them back to places that offer them some economic support, according to al-Achi.

Al-Achi noted that early recovery projects (by the UN) might provide some livelihoods for displaced individuals, but in light of the deteriorating economic situation and rampant corruption in Syria, it is difficult for average citizens to benefit from these projects. He pointed out that competition for resources provided within these projects will create new conflict mechanisms between returnees and residents.