civilians fleeing Lebanon take the risk of returning illegally to Syria

Several hundred thousand civilians are heading to Syria and taking the risk of sometimes illegally entering the area controlled by the regime of Bashar el Assad. Franceinfo went with a smuggler and Syrian civilians to one of these prohibited routes.

The number of displaced people is exploding in Lebanon as the war continues between Hezbollah and the Israeli army. An estimated 1,300,000 have left the south of the country or the southern suburbs of Beirut. Several hundred thousand Lebanese civilians even reach Syria, sometimes illegally entering the area controlled by the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

On rocky mountains near the town of Masnaa, dozens of families are trying to reach Syria illegally, on foot, without any luggage in their hands. Nader left with his granddaughters. A few days ago their house in the southern suburbs of Beirut was completely destroyed. “It’s been 13 years since I last saw Syriasays Nader. Here the smugglers are fighting to get us, they only ask ten dollars per head. We’re just trying to give our children a future.”

A few minutes ago, the Israeli army announced that it would bomb the crossing point, accusing Hezbollah of smuggling weapons there. A smuggler tells us that he has lowered his prices to cross the border. Before the war, the crossing cost $150, and every day 80 people used these prohibited routes. Today, there are more than a thousand per day.

Ali walks at the back of the line, he is from Deir Ezzor, Syria. “I come from the south, I only took with me the clothes I wearhe explains. I haven’t seen Syria for 25 years, I’m terrified. I have never known my country at war.” Most of these refugees are undocumented, according to smugglers, a third of them are wanted by the regime of Bashar el Assad, and risk death if the army arrests them on the other side. For several days, the Lebanese army has let the refugees pass without trying to stop them.

Mohammad, a young Syrian farmer from the region, could also leave. Flee the Israeli bombings hitting his Bekaa region. Yet he chose to stay. “I can’t come back because I didn’t do my military service in Syria, I could be held there for 10 or 15 yearsexplains Mohammad. Despite the war in Lebanon, many young people like me cannot return to Syria. And then there is still war there, there is no more work to live on, nothing at all… We don’t know what can happen to us.”

There are an estimated 300,000 people displaced in Syria. Lebanese, but also Syrians who do not know what will await them on the other side. On Friday morning, the Israeli army finally bombed the Masnaa crossing. These fleeing civilians never really escape the specter of war.