Struggling with fear, homelessness and exploitation | Syrian family tell of details about their journey back from Lebanon

Describing his dangerous journey, Abu Suleiman, who had displaced from Syria to southern Lebanon in 2015, talked about his difficult challenges he faced to reach decent standards of living. Years after having resettled in a village in southern Lebanon, Abu Suleiman’s family found their lives at risk over military and political conflicts in light of the dramatic military escalation by Israeli forces.

Speaking to SOHR, Abu Suleiman told of the tragedy of his family since they left Syria and their sufferings following the destruction of their house in southern Lebanon due to the Israeli bombardment a short time after they had fled to Syria, leaving their properties and IDs behind.

Abu Suleiman said that his family and he headed to camps administrated by the United Nations, but Hezbollah member blocked their way and assaulted them. Accordingly, they had no options but to return to Syria.

At Al-Masnaa crossing, the family were forced to take off routes, because they had no IDs. However, regime soldiers asked them to pay money to cross into Syria and they were imprisoned for days. The family paid more money in return for their release, before they continued their way to north Syria region.

During their trip to north Syria, the family were exploited at checkpoints until they reached SDF-controlled areas in Manbij. A few days later, a gang of gunmen from “Zakour” family exploited them and asked them for money. The family found themselves forced to give the gang a golden ring belonging to Abu Suleiman’s wife, after they have run out of money.

Abu Suleiman descried these incidents as the cruellest experience ever, which psychologically affected everyone of his family, especially his children.

On October 21, SOHR sources documented the death of nine Syrian refugees in Israeli strikes in Lebanon in four days. Accordingly, the number of Syrian refugees killed in Lebanese territory since the beginning of Israeli military escalation on September 21 in southern Lebanon has increased to 207. This horrific statistic reflects the dangerous situation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.