LEBANON: Border villages brace for Syrian refugees influx, ask for aid

Record ID: 278814

  • Title: LEBANON: Border villages brace for Syrian refugees influx, ask for aid
  • Date: 18th May 2011
  • Summary: WADI KHALED, LEBANON (MAY 17, 2011) (REUTERS) WIDE OF ROAD LEADING TO THE SYRIAN VILLAGES OF ARIDA AND TEL KELAKH PEOPLE WALKING MINIVAN CARRYING FOOD AID TO THE SYRIAN REFUGEES BANNER READING: FOOD AID FOR SYRIAN REFUGEES PEOPLE CARRYING BOXES OF AID (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MAYOR OF WADI KHALED MASHOUR SALEM SAYING: ''The number of displaced people are around 4,000. W
  • Embargoed: 2nd June 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon, Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: Social Services / Welfare
  • Reuters ID: LVA6IC1XZ5QZWZ4CG7OPVQLSWZ5S
  • Story Text: It is not quite a refugee crisis yet but Lebanese local authorities on the border with Syria on Tuesday (May 17) said they are preparing for the influx of more Syrians escaping the unrest in their country.
    Mashour Salem, the mayor of Wadi Khaled, says his village has so far accommodated some 4,000 Syrians who came through what is known as the Buqaya crossing in northern Lebanon.
    But Salem says more help is needed.
    ''The number of displaced people are around 4,000. We need blankets and medicine and food supplies. Some people do not have homes to stay in and they need help," he said.
    Buqaya is an unofficial crossing where most of the residents fleeing the restive Tel Kelakh have escaped through, many of them on foot.
    Over the weekend, Wadi Khaled residents could hear the sound of gunfire coming from Tel Kelakh where at least 12 people have been reported killed.
    Residents of Tel Kelakh who have fled speak of bodies littering the streets after irregular forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and his cousin Maher stormed the town.
    The local Arabic term by which those loyalists go by is ''shabbiha''.
    ''I swear, I swear yesterday and the day before they were shelling us and snipers were shooting us, and they used automatic machine guns, the shabbiha and the fourth division headed by Maher al-Assad,'' said one of the men who fled, who masked his face to protect his identity.
    He is referring to the military unit led by Maher al-Assad. That unit has been leading the crackdown in Syria since March.
    The nightmare in Tel Kelakh began on Friday (May 13) after residents of the mostly Sunni Muslim town near Lebanon's northern border called for the downfall of Assad's regime, joining a country-wide uprising now in its third month.
    By Saturday (May 14), at least 10 buses dumped Syrian security forces and Assad's 'shabbiha', who wore red armbands, on Tel Kelakh.
    By Sunday (May 15), the tanks surrounded the town's perimeter and the shelling started, several residents who escaped, said.
    The international media has largely been banned from reporting in Syria since the unprecedented unrest began against Assad in mid-March, making it difficult to corroborate witness accounts.
    All the residents Reuters spoke to said Assad's forces were deliberately targeting Sunni Muslims.
    Some said they were checking I.D. cards for those that began with the numbers 041 or that indicated they were from Tel Kalakh or a nearby Sunni Muslim village.
    Tel Kalakh lies in a valley and is surrounded by many Alawite villages as well as a few other Sunni villages. Assad and most of the ruling elite are Alawites, an offshoot sect of Shi'ite Islam.
    ''There was building next to the mosque in which there were men and women and they shelled it and destroyed it and also three or four houses next to it. Many refugees are now coming to Wadi Khaled but not through the village of Arida side but from Msherfeh,'' said another displaced Syrian who found refuge in the Lebanese village of Dabbabiyeh which has another unofficial crossing with Syria.
    Syria has repeatedly blamed the violence on infiltrators and terrorists supported by Islamists and outside powers.
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