A Syrian child blowing a balloon while taking care of goats and other animals in the land next to the refugee camp where he is staying in Bekaa valley.
Accounting to about one fourth of Lebanon’s population, Syrian refugees are under increasing pressure to return to their home country, an option that few of them considers. While the US is about to withdraw their troops from Syria, most refugees still prefer the precarious conditions and the discriminations they suffer in Lebanon, rather than returning home, fearing the repercussions of the regime. Anyone in Lebanon who now deems Syria as dangerous, can face arrest by the general security, a branch of Hezbollah. 1.5 millions Syrians are living in a country where they are not welcome, and where the old tensions are dangerously coming back to surface again.
A Syrian girl from Homs in a refugee camp in Akkar, at the Northern border between Lebanon and Syria. The poorest Syrians moved to this areas, the ones who couldn’t afford ajourney to Europe or even moving to Turkey. Refugees are renting the land where their tent is placed from Lebanese landlords, who found in the refugees a much more profitable business than agriculture.
Pupils at school in a refugee camp in Akkar. Many families in this refugee camp were threatened by local Lebanese, who sent them letter with the names of the people of the camp, threatening to kill them if they did not leave.
A refugee with his son in one camp in Bekaa valley.
Abu Hussein making coffee in his tent at the Syrian-Lebanese border of Akkar. He has no intention of returning back to his country, beside the Lebanese government is hoping that this will soon happen. On June 8, the Lebanese Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil ordered a freeze on the renewal of residency permits for UNHCR staff, accusing the UN agency of discouraging Syrian refugees in Lebanon from returning to Syria.
A. 32 years old, Syrian activist. He left Syria in 2011 after one of his friend was shot by a tank during the protests. He has been living in Lebanon since then, advocating for the rights of Syrian refugees in the country. He is facing increasing pressures on his activity by the Lebanese general security. His passport has been withdrawn and he replaced with a document he must go and sign every two weeks. ‘Since 2017 the Lebanese government started to tell Syrians to return. People of the general security go in places where Syrian refugees works and withdraw their documents to pressure them to travel back to Syria. They say that it will be safe for them to go back, but most of people do not believe it. I rather dye than stay in this situation, because I can’t do anything for my people. I am thinking of leaving the country to go to Cyprus.
Refugees in Lebanon has been under increasing pressure to leave the country and are preoccupied about their future. The policies of the Lebanese government have restricted legal residency, work, and freedom of movement. A
recent report by Human Rights Watch indicates that at least thirteen municipalities in Lebanon have forcibly expelled 3,364 Syrian refugees from their homes and that 42,000 more are currently at risk of suffering the same fate.
A refugee kid in Akkar camp
A Syrian refugees in Shatila camp in Beirut, one of the Fiercest headquarter of Palestinian resistance in Lebanon. Many Syrians have moved to Shatila, where their population now almost equals the one of the Palestinians. In these camps Syrians are more free to open activities.
A Syrian dentist has made itself a studio in Bourj el-Barajneh, the Palestinian refugee camp located in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut. The camp is not under Lebanese administration, that is why he can run the business that would be otherwise forbidden for Syrians inside Lebanon.
A school teacher chasing one of the student which had violent behaviours with some of his classmates.
Tel Abbas refugee camp
A girl in Tel Abbas refugee camp
Syrian refugee lying on his bed in grave health and psychological conditions. His wife left him because he was beating her.
A child looking inside an NGO's car
Syrian children playing in a rainy day in a refugee camp in Bekaa valley.
A Syrian family from Homs sitting on a carpet at the entrance of the garage where they are living. Garages have been turned into temporary houses all over Lebanon, and they are the cheapest way to live for them after the refugee camps.
A Syrian lawyer from Aleppo who have moved to Beirut after the war started, playing with his cat on the room of his house in Mar Mikhaeil. As a lawyer he cannot work in Lebanon and cannot have a bank account
Syrian refugees from Deir-ez-Zur on a rainy day in a refugee camp in Bekaa valley
Majid is originally from Idlib, the most unstable area at the moment in Syria. He is feeding and breeding pigeons on a refugee camp in Bekaa valley.