Flight of 700,000 refugees puts massive strain on Syria

Published: 23 July 2006

With nearly 370 killed and 700,000 Lebanese displaced following Israel's 12-day bombardment of Lebanon, tens of thousands of people are trying to flee across the border to Syria. Lebanon's border crossings with Syria to the north and east have been inundated with people, with up to a million Lebanese seeking refuge, according to state-run Syria TV. The Lebanese government and the United Nations yesterday warned that there is an impending humanitarian crisis in Lebanon.

The exodus is putting a serious strain on Syria, which has 300,000 Palestinian refugees and over 450,000 Iraqis who fled Iraq after the US-led invasion in 2003. With hotels full in Damascus, people are staying in orphanages, schools and university dormitories, or travelling to neighbouring Jordan, or to other Syrian cities. Flights out of Syria are booked up for at least five days, despite airlines increasing the number of outward flights.

At the eastern border, the Red Crescent welcomed vehicles packed with people and belongings with bottled water, food and medical assistance.

"We have had people come to us with burns, broken bones and other wounds from the bombings," said a representative.

The usual one-and-a-half-hour trip to the border from Beirut is taking up to nine hours, said one bus driver, who, like his colleagues, is having to negotiate difficult mountain roads and use shortwave radios to relay the safety of certain routes. After dropping off passengers at the border, public buses return to Lebanon. Two empty buses returning to the Lebanese capital were bombed on Friday in the Bekaa valley.

People entering Syria showed mixed feelings, relief at being safe and utter sadness. German-Iranian businessman Mohamed Reza was shaking every time he raised a bottle of water to his mouth. A bomb had landed 200m from him. "I wasn't fearful there, but I am now," he said. "The Israelis will destroy the country."

REFUGEES, EVACUEES AND VICTIMS OF WAR

LIZA HECHT, 70, FROM HAIFA

"Tuesday is fairly normal; we have several alarms prompting us to go into the shelter. Our neighbours have gone south to stay with their families and so our block is empty. We keep the phone with us so we can call our friends and family to see how everybody is. We don't go out, don't go to the movies; we look at the TV to see what is going on.

"On Friday I managed to go shopping, although many of the shops are closed. When I got back we heard the warning sirens. We have to be aware that sometimes you hear the booms of the rockets exploding before the sirens sound. This is the way life goes on. We call it a 'mini-war'. It is not a war between armies but between civilians living in their houses."

DR MARIA HOLT, 51, UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER. EVACUATED ON HMS 'GLOUCESTER'

"Luckily I have a friend who works in the Beirut embassy. She took my details down and then it was just a matter of waiting for them to contact me. They never did.

"I could hear explosions and felt it was all accelerating very quickly and I was very anxious. I had heard nothing at all from the embassy. Then I heard HMS Gloucester was on its way. I tried the embassy again, but was not able to get through. On Wednesday my friend from the embassy phoned and said go down to the port before 3pm. At the docks there were hundreds milling around. I managed to get on to HMS Gloucester and we left quickly once it was full. The sailors really looked after us. It took six hours to get to Cyprus."

CHAFIC NAAMANI, 28, MUSLIM ENGINEER FROM BEIRUT

"My parents' home faces a Hizbollah office so we decided to go to our apartment in the mountains. We are still there. On Wednesday I was coming back from work and saw refugees in two cars that had run out of petrol. There was a guy wearing pyjamas who ran screaming into the road. He was desperate to get to Jounieh so he could find somewhere to shelter, because all the Beirut schools housing refugees were full. The guy was having a nervous breakdown; his face was blue. I drove him for an hour and he said nothing for the whole way; he just sat there trying not to cry. I wonder what kind of place this is. I wonder if I should just pack my bags, leave and find something else."

MAJIDA HAWILA, 53, MOTHER OF EIGHT, FROM MAZOURIYA, NEAR TYRE. NOW SHELTERING IN A BEIRUT SCHOOL

"On Tuesday night the Israelis bombed a quarter of the houses in our village. The people who are being killed are not Hizbollah.

"On Thursday we had to leave. My son drove me, my husband and five of my eight children to Beirut. The journey should have taken at most only two hours but it took 10. We are now staying in the Karmel Zeitoun elementary school in East Beirut with 400 other people. People are stressed and shocked and although there is enough food right now, no one knows how long the food will hold out for. If this goes on and we can't return to our homes then we will fight. We will not be made into refugees. We are all Lebanese and we will fight for Lebanon."

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