LIVING IN THE EAGLE’S SHADOW Testimonies of Syrian Refugees
OLIVER TOOKE
LIVING IN THE EAGLE’S SHADOW
LIVING IN THE EAGLE’S SHADOW Testimonies of Syrian Refugees
Oliver Tooke
Introduction After a lethal crack down on anti-government protests across Syria, and the military sieges of Talkalakh, the first refugees started arriving in Lebanon in May 2011. The wealthy were the first to leave, mostly moving into apartments in Beirut. Families followed, usually moving in with friends or relatives living in Lebanon. Once a family had settled, the men often then returned to Syria to fight. I travelled to Lebanon, to explore a country that has been torn apart before, that houses the more Syrian refugees than any where else, and to hear the stories of those refugees who have left their home for safety. A fierce paranoia rules the minds of many Syrians living in Beirut. They fear the Syrian government, even from outside of Syria, and do not like to be photographed or to talk about politics. There are rumours of Syrian refugees living amongst them who are still loyal to the regime, who write reports on those who help journalists, or voice their opinions against the regime. People fear these reports are
send back to the regime, who compile a list of people to be punished after the war. To most, these rumours sound farfetched, but with the Syrian government gaining strength, with the help of Hezbollah forces and Iranian funding, those paranoid thoughts continue to fester. I recoiled at my first taste of Lebanese coffee, it’s intensely bitter flavour filled my mouth and throat, and left a long lingering taste that hid in the deep crevasses of my mouth. I do not like coffee, least of all that which I was given in Lebanon. Everything about Beirut is intense, the drinks, chocolate, security, women, traffic, and most importantly, it’s military history. The country has seen 3 wars in the past 40 years, which have left its capital in tatters each time, the last of which was only in 2006. The wounds of war are punctured throughout the city, with deserted buildings still left from the civil war that started in the 70s. The remains dived the population, some see them as a reminder of the country’s past and must not be forgotten, but others
wish to move on and rebuild Beirut. The capital, once considered the “Paris of the Middle East”, is still recovering from years of conflict. People leaving Syria, are doing so in search of safety and security, yet they are moving into a city that only 8 years ago was bombarded by Israeli bombers. Syrian and Lebanese children happily play among the ruins and bullet holes, the identity of those who originally fired the bullets, now long forgotten. Like the coffee, the taste of war lies deep in the minds of the people, and the walls of the city. In the south-west of the city, sits the infamous Shatila refugee camps, in the Hezbollah administrative area of Beirut. Originally set up by the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1948 to house the hundreds of refugees who came from what is now northern Israel, the camp has absorbed between 10,000 and 22,000 from Syria (April 2014), making them the majority ethnic group
in the camp. The camp is very small, and under Lebanese law, not allowed to expand outwards. Consequently, new homes made of breeze blocks and steel rods are made on the existing structures. Building that were originally 1-2 storeys high, now stand up to 7 storeys high, and apartments in the center of the camp can no longer receive any sunlight. The camp is poorly run, with wires and water pipess forming a canopy over the streets, making it ever darker in the streets, which at some points are only a meter wide. In certain places, sewage runs out into the streets, and disease spreads fast. The ground floor of a building may charge $250 per month, and each floor charging an extra $50, with the top floor of a building reaching up to $500 per month. I made several trips to a school in Shatila, and interviewed many of the children there. They all spoke of the same problems, the cost of living that is crippling their family, and daily discrimination from Lebanese people. The teachers told me that around 70% of the children suffered from psychological problems after arriving in Lebanon.
Their problems manifest themselves in hyperactivity and restlessness, making it hard for the children to focus in class. Many of the children from Syria come from rural areas, and even those from the cities enjoyed a lot of open space, and wide streets, but they often find it difficult to adjust when they arrive in the camp, where the streets are narrow and loud. They are also shocked at the more liberal attitudes held by the Lebanese, with many children seeing women in the streets without headscarves for the first time. The walls of the camp are littered with posters of political and militant groups, as well as martyrs and prominent leaders, such as Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas, Saddam Hussein and Bashar al-Assad. It is a small place with a high concentration of different religious groups, and tensions run high, with violence and crime a daily occurrence. There are also many Palestinians coming from Syria, having originally fled Palestine after the formation of Israel, and are now forced to move again. Many of the Palestinians come from Yarmouk
refugee camp in the south of Damascus, following intense fighting between factional Palestinian military groups, with the backing of either the Syrian regime, or the Rebel forces. I was taking a taxi to the Jeita grottoes, just north of Beirut. The taxi driver explained that this was a Christian area, everyone was friendly and it was very safe. As we drove along the side valley to the grottoes, I saw a view of the clouds rolling over the buildings on the mountain tops, and asked if we could stop so I could take a photo. We pulled over and I photographed the view. The driver pointed out a statue that we had stopped by, saying it was a statue of Saint Élie. The statues was badly damaged, he said that it was probably Muslims who damaged it. Tribalism is the cause of many problems in the Middle East, and it has ripped Lebanon apart before. Before the war, Syrian people of all religions lived in peace, it did not matter if you were Sunni, Alawite, Christian, Druze or Kurdish. But many now believe that sectarianism has
been driven deep into the people of Syria, and that even if the war was over and everyone was able to return, deep seated resentment will prevent Syrian society from ever being the same again. Sectarian violence is now assumed across Syria, having degraded from its original wish of ousting the Ba’ath government, and now forming a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, with fighting in Syria targeting religious neighbourhoods, rather than those loyal to certain sides. Many Syrians are aware of the increasingly polarised political regions that make up Lebanon, and are careful as to where they settle, which will determine whether they face hospitality or discrimination. The Bekaa valley and the far south of Lebanon are Hezbollah strong holds, with many people loyal to the regime, while the area around Tripoli in the north is a Sunni area. Syrian rebel fighters regularly cross over the border to find rest from the war, before returning to fight. But the huge increase of people in the area, mixed with the
highly polarised political map and active militant groups, is causing a resurgence in sectarian violence in Lebanon. Fighting in Tripoli has intensified between Sunnis of Bab-al-Tibbaneh neighbourhood, and Alawites of Jabal Mohsen neighbourhood . The neighbourhoods have been rivals since the Lebanese civil war, but Sunni militants who are against the Syrian regime have been targeting Alawite areas that are loyal to Assad, saying that they are not welcome to this area. Lebanon has a long history of sectarian conflict, but much of its deep-rooted tensions had subsided, prior to the Syrian war, but there are concerns that the sectarian violence that is re-surfacing in Lebanon could lead to another civil war. The last to leave Syria were the poor, most of whom did not have enough money to get to Beirut and instead they found settlement in the Bekaa valley. The North Bekaa is a Hezbollah strong hold, with the south being mostly Christians, and Sunni at the very south of the Bekaa valley. The central region of the Bekaa
valley is secure and calm, it is on the edge of Hezbollah territory, and there are no other major militant groups that operate nearby, giving the area stability. Here, the Syrian refugees far outnumber the local Lebanese population, but there are not many problems between the two groups. Many Syrians find work on farms, working 6am-2pm. The pay is extremely low, sometimes as little as $5 per day, but is enough to pay for food and rent, so long as they can find regular work. It’s the same story throughout Lebanon, people need work, and the cost of living is continuing to rise, putting strain on everyone. Syrian people are bored and waiting for change, many can’t find work, and the children aren’t in school, daily life falls into the same routine. Local Lebanese jobs are suffering too, while a Lebanese painter might charge $500 to complete a job, there will always be Syrians who are willing to do the same job for $200, the Lebanese can’t compete, and they are suffering from lack of work, along with the Syrians.
I visited a UNHCR non-food distribution event in the Bekaa on the 3rd April, 2014. The atmosphere was calm, but beneath the surface there was no cheer. This distribution was for the 30% least vulnerable, the other 70% had already received aid before the winter. Each family receives: 1 blanket per person 1 mattress per person 1 cooking/heating stove per family ventilation piping for the stoves fuel vouchers 1 hygene kit per family 2 tarpaulin sheet per family 2 jerry cans per family Whole families came and loaded their car or trucks, most with the mattresses on the roof. The vast majority of Syrians are Sunni, many of whom live in the north near Turkey, and in the West, along the Lebanese border. A few days ago I heard that the Syrian government had secured
the whole border along Lebanon, and was shelling over the border, and with the Syria government gaining strength over recent months, the number of people fleeing to Lebanon has increased rapidly. In April 2012, there were 18,000 registered refugees, April 2013 there were 356,000. Today the UNHCR registered their 1 millionth refugee in Lebanon. There is little hope in the hearts of Syrians, when I asked one man how he thought the war would end, and he said to me that I was optimistic for even thinking of the end of the war. As long as Syria remains a proxy war, with the involvement of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, America, United Kingdom and France, the war will never end. And old man in a hospital in Tripoli told me that the war in Syria was a snake with 2 heads, and they are both as bad as each other. A Belgian journalist told me of a worrying trend of Lebanese people buying up large areas of land in Syria, due to it being so cheap, with many Syrians desperate to make some money in order to be able to
afford to leave the country. It is possibly the Lebanese taking some revenge on Syria, after their occupation of the north and east of Lebanon for nearly 30 years during the Lebanese Civil War. A war that was started for freedom, is leaving the Syrian people with less of a country to return to.
Testimonies
Diane Dawood is 14 years old.
She is Palestinian, living in Syria, she has now been living in Lebanon for one year and four months. She is from Al-Hajar al-Aswad, a city south of Damascus, neighbouring Yarmouk refugee camp. Her life before the war was happy, she had many friends is Syria, and visiting the nearby river. Every Friday she visited her grandmother. Her father owned a three wheeled car, and he would take her out in it. When the war started, her family all moved to her aunt’s home in Yarmouk refugee camp. She had to change school, and make new friends, but she missed her old life in Al-Hajar al-Aswad. She doesn’t know what has become of her old home, or if it’s still standing. There was heavy army presence in Yarmouk, with military and tanks patrolling the streets, there was much fighting in the camp, and she could hear it every day. One day she was with her family walking in the streets, and she was nearly crushed by a tank, her father was so shocked by this, that they decided to move to Lebanon. The family came by car, her parents,
two sisters and another person, she slept the whole journey. They settled in Shatila, Beirut. During her first few days in Lebanon she was sick because of the change in climate. She says the water tastes different too. The streets in Beirut are very narrow, especially in Shatila, she prefers the streets in Syria, they were much wider. Many people left Yarmouk camp after heavy fighting between different Palestinian factions, backed by the Free army and government forces. Some of them have settled in Shatila, she has 2 friends who she knew in Yarmouk, who also live in Shatila. Her father was a plumber in Syria, but since arriving in Lebanon, he’s had trouble getting work. He can only get work for a few days at a time, there is no stability. They pay $300 per month for rent. She attends school in Shatila, her favourite subject is English. She enjoys dancing with the teachers. I asked her to draw me something from Syria on the whiteboard, but she refused, and instead, draw a picture of Palestine.
Many of the people fleeing Syria are Palestinians, who have already escaped from war in their home.
His sheep grazed by the side of the
main road, heading north to Syria. On the other side of the road was a Nawar gypsy settlement, where the kids were playing football. A shepherd and three friends sat in the field with their sheep as the sun set over Tripoli in the distance. He came with his family to Lebanon is 1993 in search of work. He sells the sheep milk to the locals. Before the Syrian war, this was mostly Lebanese people, but now he sells it to the Syrians as well. Since the war, the cost of living has doubled, but he is also able to sell his milk for more. Before the war, his milk was 5000LBP (£2) for 5 kg, but now he sells it to 8000LBP (£3.20) for 5kg. The area has become more difficult, some people have no place to stay and it is getting more and more expensive, but the Syrian people don’t fight or argue. He wishes to go back to Syria when the situation gets better, if it did he would take his sheep back. He has a Syrian man who helps him look after his sheep. His assistant left Syria after several of his friends and family got hurt by the shelling. His wife is Lebanese, and has
relatives here. When he arrived at the border, into Lebanon, a man took him on horse back from the border to Tripoli, for $700. He has two sons still in Syria, 19 and 26. He last spoke to the youngest five months ago, and he doesn’t know anything about them now. He says that only God knows if they are safe. The shepherd blames everyone for the war, the government is still shelling and killing people, and he doesn’t know how it will end. Assad is still strong, and still has Iran, China, Russia and Hezbollah as allies. Where is the peace they talk about? It’s shameful on Assad, 23 million people are wrong and he’s right, so he started to kill the people, he doesn’t understand. What’s happening in Syria doesn’t happen anywhere else. He believes most people are fighting for freedom, but has heard of people trying to make money out of the situation, posing as Free Syrian fighters, They are playing on the blood of people, they are thieves.
Abdul Rahman Wasir had his left
leg amputated 20 days ago. He is 29 years old, from Hamah. He was hit in the leg with shrapnel from a rocket explosion one year and three months ago, and had it treated in Syria with external fixation. He came to Lebanon seven months ago, and by then his leg was already infected. Despite the efforts of the Lebanese doctors, his infects lead to gangrene. Since the amputation, he’s suffered mental break downs, he says he gets stressed and nervous very easily. During his initial treatment in Syria, he had major bone loss, and hasn’t been able to walk since he was hit by shrapnel. Before his injury, he was fighting in Hama. There were many women and children in his village, and when the government started attacking the area, the people fought back. When I asked him why he was fighting, he said he’s fighting for Islam, for the word of Allah, and for the spreading of the word of Allah. I asked if this was always the reason for fighting, and he said yes.
On the side of a dusty road stands
a man with an open briefcase. He sells watches and rings on the side of the road, outside of the refugee camps. Before the war, he lived the desrt areas in the north of Syria. He worked on a farm and sold sheep. People often stand on the side of the road and sell items, but it’s not without danger. Sellers are regularly mugged on this road, one time a car pulled up next to him and stole his bag, and he often has to pay people off to prevent them from attacking him and robbing him. But he needs the money, so he continues to come out to the street to sell watches and rings. He buys the watches for 3000-5000LP (£1.20£2) and sells them for 7000-10,000LBP (£2.80-£4) repsectively. He says he makes about 10,000LBP (£4) per day.
Hamra is 40 years old, from
Hamah. He sits outside of his house with me in the Bekaa valley, while his seven children play around him, passing a mug of sugar between them, which they eat. In Syria, he had a happy life, and owned his own business selling sheep. When the wars started, he was arrested many times for no reason. After that, the government attacked his area, and arrested everyone. He was latter set free and decided to come to Lebanon. He came illegally by car, his home in Syria has been destroyed. It was a beautiful home, with 3 bedrooms and white walls. He has a car, and used to go out of the city to relax. His neighbour’s home was destroyed when a tank drove through it. When he arrived in Lebanon, he met a Lebanese man, who let him build a house in his mango orchard for free, in return for working for free. He must find work outside of the farm, in order to pay for food for is family. If he gets work today, then he can feed his family, if he can’t get work, then they go hungry. He tells me that no NGOs care for him, because he is not living in a refugee camp. There is a
refugee camp nearby, but there is no room for his family. He only sometimes gets aid if he sees an aid delivery heading towards the camp, and asks them for so food. The situation here is so bad, but at least it is safe here for his family. He has met many Lebanese people, and they are nice. But some organisations that are run by Lebanese charge the Syrians for aid/food if they are not registered, and if they live outside of a refugee camp. I ask him how the war will end, he says that God only knows how the war will end, but it will take a long time.
Nawar is six years old, she lives
with her family and five siblings in a refugee settlement near Tripoli, only 9 km south of the Syrian border. The refugee camp is small and dirty, and many children chase each other around the tents. She suffers from a neurological disorder, and is unable to properly articulate her arms and legs, and she permanently walks on tip toes, but she wasn’t born this way. On 24th December, 2012, there was a gas attack in the city of Homs, killing 6 people, and injuring several others. The Syrian army and rebels blamed each other for the attack. During the attack, she breathed in the nerve agent from the attack, damaging her nervous system. Before the war she lived with her family in Homs. Her father, Yusuf Abou Omar, says that there was injustice at the time. He was in prison for five years before the war, but says he did not do anything. Someone he was connected to made up a story to get him into trouble. But it was a happy life, and it was safe. He was a fisherman, and sometimes did farm work. After the war began, the regime began
shelling the area everyday, the place was becoming a ghost town. His brother was shot dead by the regime, and many areas were completely destroyed. They were afraid all the time, they didn’t know who is for or against the regime. Checkpoints were set up around villages, and the homes were raided looking for weapons and men, life became so unbearable that you have to leave. The only areas that were not shelled were Alawite neighbourhoods. Some Sunnis moved to the Alawite neighbourhoods to escape the shelling, but they found life hard and were not treated well by the locals. Sunnis were often beaten at checkpoints, but Alawite and Shia can pass through easily. After the gas attack in Homs, the family decided to leave for the safety of Lebanon. They came over the mountains to Lebanon by foot, taking 2 days to walk. They could only walk at night, as there were snipers, and they had to sleep during the day. They did not use roads, but walked any way they could, over rocks, through bushes and fields. The adults had to take turns carrying the children, as they tired quickly. Yusuf showed me the bottom of his feet, and even a year
and four months after leaving Syria, he still had gravel embedded in the balls of his feet from the journey. In the camp is another family with six children, who had only arrived in Lebanon a couple of weeks ago. The father, Abou Hamza, said his family walked for a week to reach the camp. Like Yusuf, they walked by night because of the snipers. One of the women in his group was shot in the leg, but survived. Yusuf tells me that there is not much help in Lebanon. There’s a school nearby, but it’s only for one day a week, and once a child is 10 years old, they are too old for the school. He has no money to buy new clothes for his 6 children, he can’t find work and can’t get treatment for Nawar. They only survive through donations from the UNHCR, but they don’t always get food from them. He registered with the UNHCR when he arrived, but he says that his family gets taken off the list and put back on roughly every month, meaning some months they get food, and others he doesn’t. They are waiting, but they do not know how long they will stay. He would be
happy if America invaded Syria against the Assad regime, but he believes that foreign powers, such as America, are supporting Assad, even now, and that they are lying about wanting to help the Syrian rebels. He would even be happy if Israel invaded Syria, anything to stop the conflict and bring peace to the country. I ask him if there are any happy times since the war started, and he replies that there are never any happy times, they have forgotten happiness.
Zaina, 44, and her Daughter,
Sabeen, 14, sit in a hospital in Tripoli. Sabeen is sits in a wheel chair, barely able to walk, after months of physiotherapy. Before the war they lived in Talkalakh, and enjoyed a good life. They had everything they could need, and Sabeen enjoyed going to school. They had a big house in a village, with with five girls and three boys, with vast open spaces for them to play. But when protests against the government started, the regime started arresting the men from the village. Many of the men were badly treated, and one boy was set on fire, but it happened to be raining that day, so he survived. The people in the village became angry when they saw how the boy had been burnt. The area was then sieged, follow by sporadic attacks on civilians by the regime forces. Some of the victims were children, and the streets were lined with bodies. Many people moved into ground floor apartments, as it was safer from the shelling. Soon after the fighting started, her husband left Syria, and she hasn’t heard from him since. She has been left to care for her family of eight children on her
own. One day she and Sabeen were at the supermarket, they were eating lunch on the balcony of the first floor. The regime forces started shelling the area, one of which landed nearby, throwing them to the floor, and nearly knocking Zaina unconscious. She turned to see that Sabeen was okay, and told her to go inside and hide with her brothers and sisters. Inside the supermarket was dusty, and hard to see, so Sabeen went out into the streets to take shelter in one of the neighbours homes. Once the mother regained her strength, she went down to find Sabeen, but couldn’t find her in the dusty supermarket, and fearing the worst, started to scream. Later, Sabeen and the neighbours son walked back to her home, when another shell was fired. She could see it coming though the air, and they ran from it. The shell landed behind them, with several pieces of shrapnel fracturing her pelvis, and hitting her in the back and intestines. Zaina found them, she saw the neghbour’s son dying, but did not immediately realise that Sabeen was lying underneath. She called for help, and when people took the boy away, she saw he daughter lying
in blood on the floor. She took Sabeen to a first aid post, where she was told that Sabeen’s condition was good, and she wasn’t going to die, but she had suffered from oxygen starvation, as her face and lips were very blue when she arrived. Sabeen and Zaina were moved to a nearby hospital, while the seven other children were looked after by their neighbours. It was a pro-government hospital, and while Sabeen was being treated, Zaina was taken away and interrogated by the police. They demanded the mother make a statement saying that it was opposition forces that had shelled the area, not the regime forces, but she would not say it, as the shells were coming from the side of the valley that was controlled by the regime. Sabeen did not receive good treatment, rather, she was left in her bed all day. She was there for eight days, then was discharged. Zaina was carrying Sabeen out of the hospital, when she could small a foul sent coming from Sabeen, and realised that her wounds were badly infected. She begged the staff to treat Sabeen, but the staff had been instructed not to help them. So She walked to Hamah, while carrying Foziah,
and found a doctor in a field hospital, who helped Foziah. Zaina says that they owe Foziah’s life to this man, and she is very grateful for this doctors help. They stayed in Hamah for 5 months, before returning to Talkalakh. They got permits to enter the village, which was still under siege from the regime. They were reunited with their family, and they stayed for a year. During this time there was still shelling from the regime, they were in constant danger, and Zaina couldn’t find anywhere safe for her family They even tried taking shelter in a mosque, but not even there was safe. Foziah was bedridden for the whole time, still unable to walk from her fractured pelvis. There was very little food, and many people in the village were starving to death. Zaina went for a walk into the valley, amongst the trees to forage for food. She was stopped on the way home by the regime forces, who arrested her and interrogated her, accusing her of collecting food for rebel fighters. She told them she had eight children to feed, but they would not listen and put her
in prison. She was was released soon afterwards, but was instructed not to return to her family. She was distraught, but soon met a captain in the regime, and after she explained her story, he took pity on her situation, and helped her to return to her family, and get them out of the village. The family travelled to Damascus, where Zaina arranged all the necessary papers for the children, and then they took a bus to Tripoli, as her parents live there, after feeling the war soon after it started. The family registered with the UNHCR when they arrived. She wants to go back home, but the regime have taken everything from houses and destroyed the houses. There is nothing left for them. When Sabeen heard that the regime had burnt down houses in their area, she said “now we will never return home”. Her eight children range from 10-18, but none of them are in school. The eldest was working, but was recently fired. The children don’t do anything, and are very bored staying at home. There aren’t any major problems living in Lebanon, but she would like to have a home again.
Zaina wishes for the regime to not exist and for people to be at peace. I ask her if this is what she thinks will really happen, she simply replies “God willing” Sabeen says she wishes to be able to walk again, and to return home. Zaina says she has no more fear anymore. So many times she’s been walking in the streets with shells and bombs falling around her, and she does not fear it anymore. She does everything for her children, she is the sole provider and she knows that God is protecting her, for the sake of her children.
A woman, who refused to give her
name, was living in the Bekaa valley, with her six children, and living with three other adults. She had her own home in Aleppo, near the Citadel of Aleppo, but it was destroyed by shelling. It wasn’t a huge house, but maybe 100 sq/m. Her sons were working, they are between 36 and 7, she was happy. They were workers, on construction sites, and sometimes on farms. She is sad because there is no jobs in Lebanon. Life was better in Syria, even after the war started, she didn’t have to worry about the rent for the apartment, she could get food for her children. The only problem is that it’s not safe. When asked if she saw any fighting, she said she saw everything, fighters, shelling. One day some Free army fighters were hiding at a petrol station, and fighting erupted as she was walking past, and she was shot in the leg, but no badly injured. She moved to a different part of the city in the south, but there was shelling everyday. People would flee into the mountains during the day to avoid it, so they started shelling the mountains. After this, they came to Lebanon. They left quickly, she
doesn’t know if her friends or family are alive. When they arrived in Lebanon, they had nothing but the dirty clothes they were wearing. It was her first time in Lebanon. They are a poor family, but they had no choice but to leave. The good things about Lebanon is that they have a safe place to stay, but they don’t have enough money to pay the rent. Her husband cannot work, he’s sick. Her sons can’t find work either. They pay $100 a month for rent. She has a daughter in Syria who is missing, she doesn’t know where she is. She doesn’t know what will happen to Syria, she is waiting. She wishes everything will finish in Syria, and she can go back and live like before. There’s no place like home.
Hussain Abou Adai lived in
Damascus. He used to have his own apartment, but he got into some trouble and had to sell it. He started renting a home until the war started. He has two children, and was a painter in Syria. The army started shelling their village during the night, and his daughter, Nagham Abou Adai, started screaming, and woke everyone, and they immediately left their home. Five minutes after they left their home, a shell landed on it, completely destroying it. They came by car to Lebanon, settling in the Bekaa valley. They live in Rahman refugee camp, near ZahlÊ. His motherin-law stayed with them for a few days after they arrived, until he built her a new home in the camp. In the camp, are around 100 families, with 500 people. It is funded by a Lebanese NGO, with half the camp staying for free, and half paying only $60 per month. He says that everyday is the same, very boring. He doesn’t work very often. He says as long as people like Iran, China and Russia still support Assad, then the
war will never end. Even if the war was over, and everyone could return home, life would not be the same. All the building are destroyed, there is nothing left for them. The people won’t be the same either, they will not get along. He wishes that life can go back to normal, like before the war. No one asked about your religion before, everyone got along. He hopes this might return, but probably not.
I would like to thank everyone who has helped me along the way to producing this work. My university lecturers for guiding me both before and after my visit. Claire Kaplun from the International Committee of the Red Cross. Lisa Abou Kaled from the UN Refugee Agency. Everyone at Hostel Beirut, with a special mention to Kris Paul and ‘Sammy’. Samee Harb, for your generous hospitality, assistance and conversation. Kamal and everyone at your restaurant for looking out for me and for making the best burgers I’ve ever had. Lastly I’d like to thank everyone at Retina Photos, for your help with making the book. Photographs and text © 2014 Oliver Tooke. Some names have been changed at the request of the subjects. All rights reserved under international copyright convention. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form what so ever with out written permission from the author. Printed and bound in the UK Book design by Oliver Tooke
This is the start of a long term project looking at the lives of the people who have fled the ongoing Syrian conflict and recording the testimonies. My first trip took me to Lebanon, the country where the most refugees have settled. Looking for safety from a war that has become a hotbed of sectarian violence, they turn their neighbour, a country that only 8 years ago was being bombarded by Israeli planes, and has a history of religious violence. My project focuses on the stories of the Syrian refugees, while also looking at the backdrop of continuing tensions and wars in the middle east since the formation of the state of Israel.