Reports | 25 05 2020
Abu Ahmad al-Halabi was unable to resume his trade in electrical appliances in the city of Latakia, because of the harassment suffered at the hands of other traders there.
Two years earlier, he had fled from Aleppo, and rented a shop in which he resumed his trade with success; then the harassment began. Many attempts were made to push him out of his shop, that included offering his landlord higher rents; filing a complaint with the city on the pretext that he was working without a license; finally resorting to breking prices to push him out of the market.
Abu Mohammed found a justification for these actions, saying: "We, the people of Aleppo, were forced to leave our homes, and found ourselves having to work to preserve our lives—whatever the work. It seems, however, that Latakia traders do not wish to share their work and their business, and do not wish to allow us to survive."
Such restrictions are not always limited to competing traders, but may also come from consumer themselves. Many residents of Jableh in the province of Latakia, for example, do not accept to deal with strangers from the area. They consider any dealer from outside their area a terrorist in their midst, and consider that they should only buy from traders belonging to their community or sect.
The Displaced Caused The Rent Raise!
The majority of property owners raise their rents in line with the generally rising prices, arguing that living hads become difficult.
Abu Ahmed, a displaced native of Aleppo, has been residing in Lattakia for almost two years now. He was forced to change his home three times, and the last time his landlord raised his rent three times. Says Abu Ahmed: "I was initially able to secure 40 thousand [Syrian] Pounds to pay the rent. But once the landlord realized my urgent need, the amount reached 60 thousand Pounds."
Abu Ahmed thanks God repeatedly, that not all Lattakia people were the same. For, without the help of his neighbors in the last apartment he occupied to secure a home for him and his family for free, he would have been forced to sleep his nights in Lattakia's public gardens.
Some displaced Aleppans, who inhabited the Sports' City, send their children out each day to beg or work. Little Adel roams the streets of Lattakia every day selling biscuits, then buys himself another box to sell.
Have Lattakians Embraced The Displaced?
The child stands at the outside door of a school, and looks wistfully to the students playing in the yard, without being able to play with them or enter the school. He tried it once before, but had been harshly treated by the students, before the director and a teacher came and kicked him out.
In sharp contrast, many Lattakia teachers and university students volunteered to teach the children of the Sports' City free of charge. Some young men and women also organized an event they called "Eid Train," visiting the Sports' City and bringing the children toys, to bring joy to their hearts.
Volunteer Red Crescent groups also formed mobile psychosocial support teams to help and support war refugees and displaced from all over the province; not to mention the rest of the relief organizations that move between Lattakia's neighborhoods, searching for any people who are needy or worthy of support, to give them all possible services.
Free Medical Services!
In the city, many doctors and lab technicians also volunteered to offer their medical services free of charge to all arrivals from other provinces. They considered it their duty towards all displaced whatever their material condition; with one of the doctors justifying this decision by saying that merely the loss of their homes, is a sufficient reason for feeling unsettled.
The services provided by these doctors will, in some cases, cause them to become exposed to harassment by security services. Doctor Rateb Shaabo for example, used to offer all his services free of charge to the displaced; as a result, he suffered frequent harassment by people of Lattakia, prompting him to leave the country.
In sharp contrast Umm Mansour, a displaced lady from Aleppo, says that her gynecologist refused to perform her surgery, before paying the full fee. The doctor justified it by saying that they were displaced, and do not have enough money to cover the expenses of the operation.