Reports | 25 05 2020
Immediately after the outbreak of the Syrian revolution and the regime’s violent crackdown on the opposition, Lebanon became the number one destination for the displaced Syrians because of its geographical proximity. But soon Syrian refugees there have become unwilling participant in the Lebanese internal, political conflict between the pro-West, Saudi-sponsored March 14 coalition and the pro-Iran March 8 coalition.
The political, internal conflict between these forces created a polarization regarding the Syrian revolution; the March 14 coalition supported the revolution and the rightful demands of the Syrian people , while the March 8 coalition considered the revolution a part of a wider conspiracy to overthrow the “resistance championing” regime. Thus, the political identity of the displaced Syrians was decided within the Lebanese context as part of the Syrian opposition, which entailed that they were welcomed only in the Sunni areas loyal to the Future Movement. This sectarian Identification between the refugees, mostly Sunnis, and the host community left the rest of the Lebanese communities, historically concerned with demographical balances, concerned of an impending demographic shift and the political/power changes it would lead to especially since the number of Syrian refugees has exceeded one million.
Hezbollah, representing the Shiite community in the Lebanese political /military equation, is the most concerned party with implication of this issue. Over a million of Sunni refugees in Lebanon is a factor that would give Hezbollah opponents a chance to manipulate the internal political and demographical realities to empower anti-Hezbollah armed groups, as they did with the Salafi Sheikh Ahmed Al-Assir in Sidon who has a number of Syrians amongst his supporters.
Interestingly, Hizbollah has never expressed these fears publicly. Rather, those political and demographical concerns were left to General Michel Aoun, their Christian alley, who handled the matter with a racist and crass anti-refugee propaganda. Aoun Christian propaganda machine is bringing back to live its civil war rhetoric where Syrian refugees are the current equivalent of the Palestinian Refugees who flocked to Lebanon, bringing with them their armed struggle, to become one of the fighting parties in the Lebanese civil war in the mid-seventies.
On the other side, the pro-revolution Future Movement is trying to use the refugees in their struggles against their Lebanese opponents. They have even held the Syrian Revolution flag along with the flags of the March 14 coalition during their recent attack on the Lebanese government headquarters to overthrow Prime Minister Najib Mikati with a noticeable participation of Syrian activists in the attack.
There is no doubt that involving the Syrian refugees in the amalgam of Lebanese sectarian and political conflicts has a negative impact on their living conditions. There is not any kind of health care or housing support provided by the Lebanese government, leaving the refugees to survive only on the dwindling local and international aid. The political and sectarian conflicts might be the main reasons for mishandling the problem of refugees in Lebanon, but we cannot neglect the effects of the government’s lack of resources and the fragility of the Lebanese economy.
Syrian refugees in Lebanon, 70% of whom lives in the Bekaa and Akkar and the north , do not want to be part of the internal Lebanese conflict, all they want is to improve their deplorable living conditions and stay out of any Alliance with any political or sectarian party. That seems difficult though in a country like Lebanon where political, social and religious leaders are used to reinvent their conflicts with every new crisis in the region and the world In a country where the concepts of rights and responsible citizenship are almost non-existent, the presence of any group of refugees would be an additional factor in the political and sectarian conflicts where every group will try to use it to their own advantage or to justify their eternal existential concerns as sects and communities. Thus the burden of hosting and accommodating the refugees falls on citizens while their sects’ leaders are figuring ways to benefit from the tragedy.
**Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Rozana Radio.