Gazan buried as only known victim of Iranian barrage against Israel/node/2573653/middle-east
Gazan buried as only known victim of Iranian barrage against Israel
Members of Palestinian security forces carry the body of a Palestinian from Gaza killed in Jericho as Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles against Israel, during his funeral in Jericho, in the West Bank on Oct. 2, 2024. (Reuters)
Gazan buried as only known victim of Iranian barrage against Israel
Sameh Khadr Hassan Al-Asali had been staying in a Palestinian security forces compound in the occupied West Bank when he was killed by falling missile debris
A large section of the rocket lay on the ground where it fell outside the compound
Updated 02 October 2024
Reuters
JERICHO, West Bank: A 38-year-old Gazan, the only known fatality in Iran’s missile attack against Israel, was buried on Wednesday.
Sameh Khadr Hassan Al-Asali had been staying in a Palestinian security forces compound in the occupied West Bank when he was killed by falling missile debris during Tuesday’s attack, which Israel said was largely thwarted by its air defense systems.
Security forces personnel carried the body draped in the red, green, white and black Palestinian flag. The crowd of about 200 mourners was made up of fellow Gazans staying in Jericho and local people.
A large section of the rocket lay on the ground where it fell outside the compound.
Around 700 workers from Gaza have been staying in Jericho, in the Jordan Valley, since the start of the war in Gaza almost a year ago.
Unlike Israelis, who went into bomb shelters after warning sirens sounded across the country, many Palestinians in the West Bank went out to watch the missiles and observe the explosions as they were intercepted by the Israeli air defense.
Video footage taken from a CCTV camera showed a large metal tube falling out of the sky and landing on a man walking across a street, apparently killing him instantly.
Reuters was able to confirm the location from the road layout, buildings, utility poles and markings on the ground which matched satellite imagery of the area. The date was verified by a timecode.
The missile attack by Iran marked a potentially dangerous new phase in the war, which was triggered by the Hamas-led assault on Israel on Oct 7 last year and followed by an Israeli invasion of Gaza and which has since spiralled into a wider conflict now threatening to draw in Iran.
The Hamas attack on Oct 7 prompted the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon to fire a barrage of missiles against Israel, and the two sides have been engaged in daily cross-border fire ever since.
Over recent weeks, the conflict has flared seriously with Israel conducting the heaviest air strikes against targets in Lebanon since the last war in 2006, and Hezbollah firing hundreds of rockets and missiles at Israel.
In music and dance, Sudanese performers transport refugee audiences back home
A band with 12 Sudanese members now lives with thousands of refugees in Egypt
The troupe, called “Camirata,” includes researchers, singers and poets who are determined to preserve the knowledge of traditional Sudanese folk music and dance
Updated 02 October 2024
AP
CAIRO: As the performers took the stage and the traditional drum beat gained momentum, Sudanese refugees sitting in the audience were moved to tears. Hadia Moussa said the melody reminded her of the country’s Nuba Mountains, her family’s ancestral home.
“Performances like this help people mentally affected by the war. It reminds us of the Sudanese folklore and our culture,” she said.
Sudan has been engulfed by violence since April 2023, when war between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces broke out across the country.
The conflict has turned the capital, Khartoum, into an urban battlefield and displaced 4.6 million people, according to the UN migration agency, including more than 419,000 people who fled to Egypt.
A band with 12 Sudanese members now lives with thousands of refugees in Egypt. The troupe, called “Camirata,” includes researchers, singers and poets who are determined to preserve the knowledge of traditional Sudanese folk music and dance to keep it from being lost in the ruinous war.
Founded in 1997, the band rose to popularity in Khartoum before it began traveling to different states, enlisting diverse musicians, dancers and styles.
They sing in 25 different Sudanese languages. Founder Dafallah El-Hag said the band’s members started relocating to Egypt in recently, as Sudan struggled through a difficult economic and political transition after a 2019 popular uprising unseated longtime ruler Omar Bashir. Others followed after the violence began. El-Hag arrived late last year.
The band uses a variety of local musical instruments on stage. El-Hag says audiences are often surprised to see instruments such as the tanbour, a stringed instrument, being played with the nuggara drums, combined with tunes of the banimbo, a wooden xylophone.
Biden won’t support a strike on Iran nuclear sites as Israel weighs response to Iran missile attack
“The answer is no,” Biden told reporters when asked if he would support such retaliation
The US and allies are urging Israel to show restraint as it weighs retaliation against Iran for Tuesday’s attack
Updated 02 October 2024
AP
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden said Wednesday he will not support an Israeli strike on sites related to Tehran’s nuclear program in response to Iran’s missile attack on Israel.
“The answer is no,” Biden told reporters when asked if he would support such retaliation after Iran fired about 180 missiles at Israel on Tuesday.
Biden’s comments came after he and fellow Group of Seven leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom spoke by telephone about coordinating new sanctions against Iran.
The US and allies are scrambling to keep the Mideast conflict — sparked by Iran-backed Hamas militants’ in Gaza’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel— from spreading further. They are urging Israel to show restraint as it weighs retaliation against Iran for Tuesday’s attack.
Israel is now carrying out what it has described as limited ground operations across its northern border with Lebanon to dig out Hezbollah, another Iran-backed group, after carrying out a series of massive air strikes that killed the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and decimated its leadership.
Last month, thousands of explosives hidden in pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah detonated, killing dozens of people and maiming thousands, including many civilians. Israel is widely believed to be behind the attack
Biden stated his opposition to Israel hitting Iranian nuclear facilities as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu weighed a range of options in how to respond to Tuesday’s attack. It was the second such attack by Iran on Israel in less than six months.
Israel’s choices range from a largely symbolic strike— similar to how Israel responded after Iran launched a barrage of missiles and attack drones in April— to hitting oil facilities and other infrastructure.
Targeting Iran’s controversial nuclear program is seen as perhaps the most provocative action that Israel could take. It’s one that the Democratic president believes could further enflame a Mideast conflict that he already worries could develop into a broader regional conflict.
The White House said in a statement that G7 leaders “unequivocally condemned Iran’s attack against Israel” and that Biden reaffirmed America’s “full solidarity and support to Israel and its people.”
Biden added that he supports Israel’s right to defend itself and “there are things that have to be done” in response to the Iranian barrage. He said he expected sanctions from the G7 nations to be announced soon.
“We will be discussing with the Israelis what they are going to do,” Biden told reporters before heading to the Carolinas to see the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. “All seven of us agree that they have a right to respond.”
The office of Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said in a statement that the leaders expressed “strong concern for the escalation of these last hours” and emphasized that “a conflict on a regional scale is in no one’s interest.” Italy holds the rotating presidency of the G7 group of industrialized democracies.
Biden said that he planned to speak with Netanyahu “relatively soon.”
Biden’s administration has signaled that it is urging Israel to display restraint in how it responds to Iran’s missile attack, which Biden said was “ineffective and defeated.”
The US military helped Israel defend against the attack that Iran carried out in retaliation for the killing of Tehran-backed leaders of Lebanese Hezbollah.
Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said there “must be a return message” to Iran. He said the US and Israel officials continue to discuss their response.
“At the same time, I think we recognize as important as the response of some kind should be, there is a recognition that the region is really balancing on a knife’s edge,” Campbell said at forum hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington think tank.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on Wednesday with his counterparts Britain, France, Germany, and Italy to discuss the situation in the Middle East.
Israeli army crosses into Lebanon, clashes with Hezbollah
Hezbollah says it destroyed three Israeli Merkava tanks with rockets near border town of Maroun El Ras
Losses are deadliest suffered by Israeli military on Lebanon front in the past year of border-area clashes
Updated 02 October 2024
NAJIA HOUSSARI
BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army Command confirmed on Wednesday that “an Israeli enemy force breached the Blue Line for approximately 400 meters inside Lebanese territory in the areas of Khirbet Yaroun and Bab Al-Adaisseh, and withdrew after a short period.”
The incursion, justified by the aim of eliminating Hezbollah, resulted in three confrontations with the group — along the road to Adaisseh, in the town of Maroun Al-Ras, and on the road to Yaroun.
Videos documented the process of transferring the injured from the site in Adaisseh to Rambam Hospital in Haifa and Ziv Hospital in Safed.
Israeli Army Radio reported that “the rescue operation was extremely complex and took place under difficult conditions and amidst gunfire.”
According to Hezbollah’s account, “an Israeli infantry unit infiltrated the Adaisseh road three days ago, where Hezbollah members merely observed their movements. The Israeli force subsequently retreated, only to attempt another incursion into the same area on Wednesday, mistakenly believing it to be secure.”
The group added: “Unbeknownst to the Israeli soldiers, they had fallen into a well-planned ambush, as Hezbollah operatives opened fire with both machine guns and rockets, resulting in the deaths of four Israeli soldiers and injuries to 20 others.”
Hezbollah said in a press release that its operatives “targeted a large infantry force in the settlement of Misgav Am, opposite the town of Adaisseh, using rocket and artillery fire, resulting in a direct and precise hit.”
The group said that “another clash occurred with a force from the Israeli army that was infiltrating the town of Maroun Al-Ras from the eastern side,” adding that it inflicted “several casualties among the force. The Israeli army acknowledged the death of a division commander, while Israeli media reported that 35 soldiers were injured.”
In an attempt by an Israeli force to encircle the town of Yaroun, Hezbollah reported that its members “detonated an explosive device, resulting in casualties among all members of the force, both dead and injured.”
The Israeli army reported that “commando forces, including fighters from the Egoz unit, successfully located and destroyed a combat center belonging to Hezbollah, which housed a rocket launch platform, a stockpile of explosives, and other combat equipment.”
It said that “to date, more than 150 terrorist infrastructures have been destroyed through airstrikes, including the headquarters of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, weapon depots, and rocket launch sites.”
According to the Israeli army, “additional armored forces joined the units involved in a limited ground operation in Lebanon.”
The Israeli army targeted Lebanese border towns, most largely uninhabited, with airstrikes, as well as towns in northern Bekaa.
An airstrike destroyed a house in the town of Debel in the Bint Jbeil district, resulting in the deaths of three people.
Another strike hit a residence in Alma Al-Shaab, leading to the destruction of a home and injuries to a Syrian family of seven.
Additionally, a military drone attacked a vehicle belonging to the Civil Defense team affiliated with Hezbollah while they were assisting the injured, resulting in the deaths of four paramedics.
An airstrike targeting the town of Borj Qalaouiye resulted in two deaths and one injury.
The Lebanese army was engaged in efforts to clear the road connecting Kawkaba and Marjeyoun, which had been obstructed by Israeli shelling.
During this operation, an Israeli drone launched two missiles at the army, one of which detonated, causing minor injuries to a soldier.
The Israeli army repeated its evacuation request to the residents of the southern suburbs of Beirut on Tuesday night before launching airstrikes.
Residents surrounding the southern suburbs woke to the smell of smoke and the sight of flames rising from the buildings that had been reduced to rubble by the intense airstrikes.
Israeli warnings disseminated through social media gave residents about 20 minutes to evacuate before the targeted site was bombed.
A tour organized by Hezbollah on Wednesday for journalists revealed the extent of the destruction caused by 17 Israeli airstrikes from Tuesday night to Wednesday, spanning an area from Chiyah to Choueifat.
Hezbollah media official Mohammed Afif, who accompanied about 200 journalists, said: “The targeted buildings are inhabited by civilians. The objective of the Israeli attacks is to destroy landmarks in the suburbs and incite supporters of Hezbollah against it.”
The influx of displaced individuals into Beirut from the southern suburbs continued.
Evacuation operations expanded to include neighborhoods adjacent to the southern suburbs due to the damage inflicted on their homes by the force of the explosions caused by the missiles.
During a tour of neighborhoods in Beirut, one could witness a number of people seeking refuge at the entrances of buildings, accompanied by their children and possessing only a few belongings.
Dozens of displaced people took refuge in the unoccupied offices of the Azarieh building. They made use of the storefronts that had sustained damage from the port explosion four years ago.
Hundreds of men fled their homes along the sidewalks up to Bechara Al-Khoury Street. They watched the news on screens in the storefronts, in cafes, and on cell phones.
“I am an electrician and now I am out of work. I learned that my house was hit by an Israeli raid. I lost everything I had in the blink of an eye. I don’t know where this war is taking us next,” said Al-Majed, from Khirbet Silm. He only gave his surname.
“My family and I took refuge in the public school nearby. Men are staying on the streets to give more space to women. My house in the town that I never left before was destroyed. There is no roof to protect me and my family. Was this war really necessary? Why did we do this to ourselves?” Al-Bazzi, another displaced man, said.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati informed the Cabinet that the number of shelters has increased to 874.
This announcement was made after the Cabinet meeting to address the unprecedented displacement of nearly 1 million refugees which, according to Mikati, is “the largest displacement movement that may have happened” in Lebanon.
The Forum de Beirut exhibition center also opened its doors to displaced people.
“The majority of the people in the streets are non-Lebanese,” said Mikati. “We are cooperating with UNHCR to take care of them in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Affairs. The fact that people are staying in the streets is not acceptable.”
Mikati directed the security forces to protect private properties. These directives were issued after displaced people walked into empty residential buildings and occupied apartments.
“The limited violations that have been committed were addressed,” Mikati said.
Based on its estimations, the Lebanese government needs $427 million to cover the shelter and relief operations for the coming three months.
“We received the immediate approval of international organizations to grant us about $200 million, a sum that must be delivered through the UN via a clear and transparent mechanism,” Mikati said.
Nasser Yassin, head of the government’s emergency committee, said that most schools in Beirut and Mount Lebanon reached maximum capacity, and that “we are trying to direct the displaced people toward the north.”
Hamas claims Tel Aviv shooting attack that killed seven
“The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades takes responsibility for the heroic Jaffa operation carried out by the fighters from the (occupied West Bank) city of Hebron,” the group said
The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades named the attackers as Mohammed Misk and Ahmed Al-Haimoni
Updated 02 October 2024
AFP
JERUSALEM: Hamas’s armed wing claimed responsibility on Wednesday for the killing of seven people in a shooting and stabbing attack in Israel’s commercial hub Tel Aviv the previous day.
The attack — one of the deadliest in the country since the October 7 Hamas onslaught — came as Iran fired about 200 missiles at Israel, sending hundreds of thousands of people into public shelters.
“The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades takes responsibility for the heroic Jaffa operation carried out by the fighters from the (occupied West Bank) city of Hebron,” the group said in a statement, referring to the attack near the Tel Aviv light rail station in Jaffa on Tuesday.
“The attack coincided with the painful strikes in the heart of the entity (Israel)... executed by Iran,” it said, referring to Tuesday evening’s missile barrage.
The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades named the attackers as Mohammed Misk and Ahmed Al-Haimoni, who managed to “infiltrate into our occupied lands.”
Israel and Hamas have been at war in Gaza since October 7 when the Palestinian militant group carried out its attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 41,689 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations has said the figures are reliable.
Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli police said seven people had been killed in the Jaffa attack, with one of the victims succumbing to his wounds overnight.
On Tuesday, Israeli police said 17 others had been wounded.
Police said the alleged assailants “began their killing spree when they entered the carriage of the light rail train that stopped at the station and fired at passengers.”
They were armed with an assault rifle and a knife, and continued on foot until police “neutralized” them, it added.
One of the attackers was shot dead and the other was seriously wounded, police added.
Overnight, the Israeli security agency and the army arrested several suspects in Hebron and Jerusalem believed to have aided the suspects.
Israeli media identified three of the dead as Israelis and one as Georgian. The others were Greek and Moldovan, their governments said.
The identity of the seventh victim has not been released.
Palestinian militants have carried out several attacks on Israelis since October 7, killing at least 23, according to Israeli official figures.
Violence in the West Bank has also surged. Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 682 people in raids or attacks in the territory since October 7, according to Palestinian health ministry figures.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and its troops regularly make incursions into Palestinian towns and cities, which often result in heavy clashes.
Can Syria cope with influx of people displaced by Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon?
Israel’s air and ground offensive has forced more than 100,000 people to flee across the border into war-torn Syria
Where once Syrian refugees were fleeing to Lebanon, it is now Syria’s turn to play host to those escaping war
Updated 02 October 2024
ANAN TELLO
LONDON: In just one week, Israel’s air and ground offensive in Lebanon has forced more than 100,000 people to flee across the border into war-torn Syria in what represents a stark reversal of fortune compared to just a few weeks earlier.
Where once Syrian refugees were spilling over the border, escaping violence and hardship for the relative safety of Lebanon, it is now Syria’s turn to play host to a desperate population fleeing war and economic collapse.
Both the Syrian government and civil society organizations have been leading relief efforts. But, after 13 years of civil war, Syria is poorly equipped to adequately support the thousands displaced from Lebanon.
While Syria was an ally of Hezbollah during its 2006 war with Israel, taking in some 250,000 refugees, according to UN figures, more than a decade of fighting and economic calamity has left the country deeply impoverished.
Lebanese customs officers help a woman walk 31 July 2006 at the Masnaa border crossing between Lebanon and Syria. (AFP/File)
Authorities in Syria estimate that since Sept. 23, more than 200,000 people have arrived at border crossings in Homs, the Damascus countryside, and the coastal governorate Tartous.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, reports that around 60 percent of those crossing the border are actually Syrians — among the approximately 1.5 million who had fled to Lebanon after the Syrian civil war began in 2011.
Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, UNHCR’s representative in Syria, said those arriving — half of them minors — are “exhausted, scared and in need, arriving in a country that has been suffering from its own crisis and violence for more than 13 years, as well as from economic collapse.”
Speaking at a press briefing in Geneva on Sept. 27, Llosa related the story of one woman who had arrived at the border with the bodies of her two children so she could bury them in their Syrian homeland. She told aid officials that both had been killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Fearful they may face arrest, conscription, or fall victim to the ongoing violence if they returned to their home country, many Syrians had long preferred to remain in Lebanon despite the country’s economic problems and mounting hostility against their community.
A woman holds her cat in front of a destroyed building at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut. (AP)
However, for those now crossing the border, the rapid escalation between Israel and Hezbollah appears to have eclipsed even these fears.
While communities in Syria welcomed their Lebanese neighbors with open arms back in 2006, treating them as guests rather than as refugees, the picture is very different today. With some 90 percent of the population barely making ends meet, few Syrians have anything to spare.
In 2018, the World Bank reclassified Syria as a low-income country. Its gross domestic product contracted by more than 50 percent between 2010 and 2020 owing to the destruction of infrastructure, the loss of workers and professionals, and the collapse of economic networks.
Nezar Mihoub, head of the Syrian Public Relations Association, said that during the 2006 war, his Damascus-based organization alone “received some 15,000 displaced people from Lebanon.”
He told Arab News: “We had around 50 volunteers who would travel to the Syrian-Lebanese border to receive and transport Lebanese families from the border to the association’s headquarters.
“During that time, thousands of Syrian families from all sects and backgrounds generously opened their homes to Lebanese people and donated goods in abundance. At one point, Syrians even provided free dental and medical care.”
In one instance, a couple who were about to get married and who had a newly furnished home even postponed their wedding to accommodate a displaced Lebanese family, said Mihoub.
“Emotions ran high in 2006, and Syrians genuinely committed to their humanitarian efforts. But today, they are weary from war and the harsh living conditions.
INNUMBERS
• 1,000 People killed in Lebanon in Israeli strikes over the past two weeks.
• 1m+ People uprooted in Lebanon by ongoing Hezbollah-Israel conflict.
“Today, after more than a decade of war, both the Syrian people and government are depleted. The current economic situation makes it impossible for Syrian families to house and feed displaced Lebanese families as they did in 2006.”
He added: “With over 90 percent of the population living below the poverty line and many families relying on remittances from relatives abroad. The country lacks the resources and financial capacity it had in 2006.”
Support from UNHCR is expected to help ease the burden on the Syrian government and civil society groups, who are determined to stand in solidarity with those who have lost their homes in Lebanon.
A protester holds a sign during a demonstration in support of Lebanese people as intense Israeli attacks across Lebanon. (AFP)
Amal, a former Syria-based humanitarian worker whose name has been changed to protect her identity, told Arab News that “with adequate funding for humanitarian organizations and the government, Syria has the capacity to support those displaced from Lebanon.”
Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, posted on X that the UN is appealing for $83 million to “urgently meet the needs” of Lebanon’s displaced people, “including those who have crossed the Syrian border.”
By taking in Lebanese refugees and Syrian returnees, Amal believes Syria itself can benefit from the additional humanitarian relief.
“When the Syrian government assists Lebanon’s displaced people, humanitarian funding will be redirected to support relief efforts in Syria,” she said.
“The situation in the region is undoubtedly tragic, but the scale of the crisis will prompt donors to redirect the flow of funds into Syria, as this is an urgent response. And since funding must correspond to the number of people in need, it should increase accordingly as more individuals enter Syria.”
Local authorities, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, UNHCR, and civil society groups are present at four official border crossings on the Syrian side of the border, including Masnaa in Jdeidat Yabous, west of Damascus, and Arida in Tartous.
Services offered to new arrivals include medical aid, food, water, and blankets, transport to shelter and accommodation, legal advice, and psychological support.
“For the time being, these needs are largely being addressed thanks to relief supplies that we and other partners had in stock, but these will need to be replenished soon,” said UNHCR’s Llosa.
Israeli soldiers fire a tank round from a military position in Kibbutz Snir, along the border between Israel and Syria. (AFP/File)
From Sept. 24 to 29, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent said its mobile clinics provided medical services to 5,074 people who were sick or injured. However, its staff say they have been overwhelmed by the scale of demand.
Local initiatives, such as the Damascus-based charity Mart Group, have stepped in to support relief efforts by distributing bottled water, snacks, and blankets. It has also been giving children wristbands with space to write their parents’ phone numbers in case they get lost.
Marwan Alrez, Mart’s general manager, whose team is stationed at the Masnaa crossing, described chaotic scenes at the border.
“When my team first arrived at the Masnaa border crossing, the first things we noticed were overcrowding, chaos and poor organization, which signaled the gravity of the situation in Lebanon,” he told Arab News.
“All of a sudden, the crossing, which previously handled around 300 travelers per day, is now receiving about 2,000 daily.”
Fortunately, most of the new arrivals have “connections or interests in Syria,” said Alrez. Indeed, while the majority are Syrian returnees, “many of the Lebanese families from South Lebanon have relatives and friends in Syria” with whom they can stay.
Fearful they may face arrest, conscription, or fall victim to the ongoing violence if they returned to their home country, many Syrians had long preferred to remain in Lebanon. (AP)
There have, however, been claims of store holders and border officials ramping up prices and demanding fees in order to profit from the flow of refugees and returnees arriving in Syria from Lebanon.
According to some reports, Syrian returnees had until the end of September been required to pay $100 at the border, while Lebanese arrivals were not asked to present any funds.
“The Syrian refugee who sought shelter in Lebanon only to face further instability now has to pay a fee for the ‘privilege’ of returning to a country that offers no home — only the high probability of arrest and torture,” Syrian activist Douna Haj Ahmad told Arab News.
“The very Syrians who have endured years of war, bombings, and oppression are cast aside, their suffering compounded by this bitter betrayal, while others are welcomed with open arms.”
Opinion
This section contains relevant reference points, placed in (Opinion field)
Karam Shaar, a senior fellow at the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy, clarified that the Syrian regime was not taking $100 from Syrians upon arrival but was in fact exchanging it for the local currency, “giving the equivalent in Syrian pounds.”
However, he told Arab News the $100 paid by Syrians at the border was “exchanged at a rate that is currently lower than the black-market rate, which is considered the fair exchange rate as it’s determined by the powers of supply and demand.”
Whatever the nature of this exchange of funds, Zaher Sahloul, president of the US-based nongovernmental organization MedGlobal, said many Syrian refugees had been left “trapped at the border, unable to pay the $100 exchange fee required to enter Syria.”
In a statement on Sept. 30, he called for “immediate action” to “lift these barriers,” adding that “there are also widespread reports of Syrian refugees in Lebanon being denied access to shelter centers, with many now sleeping on roadsides, exposed to the elements.”
On Sep. 29, the Syrian government announced a one-week suspension of the requirement for Syrian citizens to exchange $100 at border crossings when entering the country.
Officials said the suspension came “in response to the emergency circumstances resulting from the Israeli aggression on Lebanese territories and the subsequent influx of arrivals at the border crossings.”
Shaar of the Newlines Institute believes the alleged preferential treatment of Lebanese arrivals compared to Syrian citizens is partly caused by feelings of “guilt,” saying: “The Syrian regime knows that it should have done much more at least to be aligned with its own rhetoric as part of the ‘Axis of Resistance’ to support ‘Palestinian and Lebanese resistance.’”
The Axis of Resistance is a loose network of Iranian allies and proxies throughout the region opposed to Israel and its Western backers. Although Syria’s Bashar Assad regime is allied with the axis, it has been reluctant to provide material support to Hezbollah or Hamas.
“The Syrian regime is trying to distance itself as much as possible,” said Shaar. “It doesn’t want any military confrontation with Israel, and this has been the case for nearly a year now following the Oct. 7 (Hamas) attacks.”
A group of Syrian workers laugh as they head to the immigration office to flee Lebanon and cross to Syria at Jedeidet Yabus. (AFP/File)
Indeed, with armed opposition groups in control of Syria’s northwest, a Kurdish-led administration backed by 900 US troops in control of the northeast, and an ongoing Daesh insurgency in its eastern and central regions, the Assad regime has barely survived its grinding civil war, owing its success to its now preoccupied Russian, Iranian, and Hezbollah allies.
Although regime-held areas have come under repeated Israeli fire in recent years, most notably the April 1 attack on the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, these strikes have tended to be aimed at Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which uses Syria as a land corridor to deliver weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
It seems likely the Syrian regime will continue to actively avoid direct involvement in the present conflict. But if events escalate any further, engulfing the wider region, it may have little choice in the matter.
