RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – “The strong preys on the weak,” says Um Ahmad, describing her situation and that of many other Syrian families who were recently deported from Lebanon. Lebanese authorities blamed Syrian refugees for consecutive crises that have hit the country and issued a resolution to deport them from Lebanon.
Having been forcibly deported to their country, their status has changed from refugees to homeless IDPs.
Um Ahmad, 30, sitting in front of a tent in al-Hakomiya camp, in northern Raqqa, northern Syria, told North Press about the extent of the suffering they have experienced.
Preferring not to disclose her full name, she said that her family and the rest of the Syrian families were forced to leave 001 Jazira camp in the Lebanese Beqaa. They were surprised one day, at dawn, when members of the Lebanese army surrounded the camp.
“They were hostile and beat our children. Some of them managed to escape from the camp, and some were beaten. The owners of the land shot at us just because we would not leave. They threatened to burn the tents or to demolish them while our children inside,” she added.
Objecting and begging did nothing to change that. The Lebanese army forcibly put Um Ahmad and the rest in cars. “Women and children were separated from the men,” without knowing their destination. They eventually found themselves on the Syrian-Lebanese border.
They had to stay on the border for two days. They had not been allowed to take any of their belongings or identification papers which would have allowed them to enter their home country.
Their children were crying from hunger and thirst, and the adults had been fasting for two days, day and night, before they were allowed to enter Syrian territories.
Um Ahmad noted that several young men, forcibly deported, were detained on the Syrian border. Some managed to enter and join the women and children, but others were detained.
After a few days, the refugees arrived in areas held by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). They were received “warmly”, and 13 families settled in the al-Hakomiya camp, most of whom are from Tel Abyad, northern Raqqa Governorate, northern Syria. “We are in a tragic situation. We are in a mess,” she told North Press.
The deported woman added that they have to stay with displaced families already present in the camp since they do not have tents or even money. They left everything they had collected since 2014 in the camp in Lebanon.
On the other hand, Um Muhammad, one of the deported refugees, is still afraid and apprehensive even after reaching safety because of what she experienced there that day.
Um Muhammad was speechless and did not know how to express what happened to her on the day they were deported from the 001 Jazira camp. Every time she tried to say a word, she would become frightened or perhaps could not believe she had survived death that day.
“When the attack occurred, and they started shooting, I ran to my tent to take my two year old daughter who has a walking impairment, multiple gunshots nearly hit my feet,” she told North Press.
She said that on that day, she died and came back to life again.
Now these IDPs wait in al-Hakomiya camp for support, or at least to find a place to live in.
On May 27, the AANES Social Affairs and Labor Board announced that they would receive all IDPs coming from Lebanon and designate a new camp.
Abdulnasser Ali, a spokesperson for the Social Affairs and Labor Committee of Raqqa’s Civil Council, said that they set up a designated place to shelter the new IDPs and will determine the camp’s location as soon as possible to provide assistance for them.
Currently, there are 12 IDP families that came from Lebanon in al-Hakomiya camp in addition to several families who reside in the city temporarily, according to Ali.
He said the committee “has not coordinated with any international organizations” and called on international NGOs to provide assistance and support to all IDPs, whether coming from Lebanon or Turkey. “They need shelter and humanitarian aid,” he added.