DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – The security approval for residency that Maher al-Muhammad (a pseudonym), an IDP from Khan Shaykhun in the southern countryside of Idlib, applied for to renew the rental agreement in Sahnaya town was rejected.
Al-Muhammad, a mechanic working in Hosh Blas region, south of Damascus, told North Press that the security approval of many of his relatives, who had displaced from Khan Shaykhun, to reside in Sahnaya and other towns of Rif Dimashq was rejected.
The 10-year Syrian war pushed many to displace from their regions to other regions in search for security.
Since 2014, the Syrian government imposed on IDPs and everyone who changes his house to obtain a security approval to rent in any other area he displaced to.
Recently, the security branches responsible for providing approvals for tenants, have been rejecting to renew these approvals of many in Rif Dimashq regions.
Forced return
When he went to the Political Security Branch to find out the reason of the rejection, a member of the branch told him that “there is no need to rent a house any more as safety has returned to your town and you have to go back.”
He was forced to pay large sums of money as a bribe to a member of the branch through the owner of the real estate office to renew his approval, which was later approved.
The government put pressures on the IDPs to return to their regions by rejecting to renew the security approvals of residency in an attempt to show its recovery from the effects of war, though those regions lack basics of life.
Talib al-Ali (a pseudonym), owner of a real estate office in Sahnaya town told North Press, “a number of the town’s legal persons are putting pressures on the official authorities to stop renewing approvals of the IDPs.
He mentioned that the town witnesses a kind of discrimination where some local residents accuse the IDPs of being behind the deterioration of services in the town.
Costly solutions
Some residents resort to costly ways and sometimes dangerous to obtain housing in the towns of Rif Dimashq under the government’s pressure to return them to their destroyed areas.
Ayed Mustafa (a pseudonym), an employee in the private sector residing in Jaramana and has displaced from Abu Kamal in Deir ez-Zor, is forced to pay large amounts of money as a bribe to a broker to obtain a security approval to rent a house after a former rejection.
“This is not the first time that the approvals of the citizens of Deir ez-Zor are being rejected; when the siege on the city was lifted in 2017, many of the IDPs were pressured to return there,” he told North Press.
“At first, they returned the government employees threatened to lose their jobs. Today, they try to return the rest under the pretext that the city is safe and services are available,” he added.
Mustafa cannot return as his house in Deir ez-Zor was destroyed due to the shelling, and he cannot restore it now amid the deteriorating condition, in addition, he is enjoying a stable job now.
Forced risks
The application of Ahmad Safi (a pseudonym), an IDP from the town of Zamalka in the Eastern Ghouta, who is residing in Bibla town, south of Damascus, to obtain the security approval for renting his house and vegetable shop he works at, was rejected.
He told North Press that he was forced to conclude contracts to rent the house by applying with the name of his relative who is an indigenous citizen of the town in order to be allowed to house and work in the town.
He added that it is dangerous to some extent, as he may be uncovered during the security campaigns that are usually conducted and may face a big problem, “but we have no other choice,” he referred.
He pointed out that it is impossible to return to Zamalka now, “after his house was completely robbed when the government forces entered the region.”
Displaced twice
Humam Issa (a pseudonym), IDP form the town of Dareya residing in the town of Jdeidat Artouz and working as an accountant in the private sector, was displaced with his family for the first time when they fled Dareya in 2012, and for the second times, when their rental agreement of a former house in Jdeidat Artouz expired.
They were forced to transfer between a group of relatives and hotels in Damascus due to the repeated rejection to grant them security approvals to reside in the towns of Rif Dimashq.
He told North Press that they were forced to reside without obtaining an approval after the house owner accepted that sympathizing with their condition.
Issa pointed out that he and the house owner may be exposed to accountability if it was discovered that the owner had accepted their residence without a formal rental agreement and a security approval.
He referred that “the government tries to improve its image by the issue of returning the IDPs at the expense of our suffering. How can we return and our houses are destroyed and the region lacks all basic services?”