With little to hope for, Syrian refugees rely on God's mercy

By Weedah Hamzah Feb 17, 2012, 2:06 GMT

Wadi Khaled, Lebanon - When Um Mustafa, a 60-year-old grandmother, fled Syria for northern Lebanon she said she was counting on God's mercy to protect the sons she left behind.

Her three sons are fighting Syrian government troops in the volatile city of Homs. 'Who knows what will happen to my boys. I am relying on God's mercy to save my boys.'

Three days back, Um Mustafa arrived with her four grandchildren at Lebanon's border area of Wadi Khaled, which is a mere 30 kilometres rom Homs.

She disclosed that her sons are part of the Syrian Free Army, a group of army deserters who are supporting the opposition to end the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

Despite global condemnation of his regime's brutal crackdown on his people and repeated calls to step down, al-Assad has remained defiant.

Um Mustafa has lost hope that any international resolution would end the violence any time soon.

Like other Syrians in Lebanon, she does not pin much hope on help from the West and the Arab world. 'We have no one left to rely on. It is a battle for life or death against this brutal regime,' she told dpa.

'We only hear of meetings and speeches of support, but nothing makes sense on the ground.'

Now living in a one-bedroom home in Wadi Khaled, she said, 'We had no choice. Either we died in our district Baba Amr (in Homs) under the rubble or we had to leave.'

For 12 days Baba Amr has been subjected to a massive assault by Syrian government forces. Activists have reported that more than 400 people, including women and children, have been killed in the bombardment.

Like Um Mustafa, many Syrian refugees have left their homes and businesses and sought refuge in this mainly Sunni northern Lebanese area.

'Calling for freedom in a country that has been ruled (since the 1960s) by the Baath Party headed by the al-Assad clan is a crime you should die for,' said Um Mustafa.

According to the United Nations, more than 5,400 people have died in the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters since mid-March. The UN stopped counting the dead in January as the violence escalated and it was near impossible to ascertain accurate data.

Abu Mohammed, another Syrian refugee in the area, said: 'No one can imagine what we went through there. Even you Lebanese who went through years of civil war cannot imagine the scale of torture, repression and killing this regime is inflicting on the people.'

A native of the nearby Syrian town of al-Kussair, Abu Mohammed now lives in a school in Wadi Khaled with other refugees.

'I decided to come here because my children were starving,' he said.

A farmer, Abu Mohammed, said he stopped tending to his fields after Syrian troops planted mines near his land to prevent opposition activists and army defectors from fleeing to Lebanon.

He and his family are supported by food supplies provided by local volunteers or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

On January 6, UNHCR said there were 5,039 registered Syrian refugees.

Ahmed Moussa, a Syrian member of a committee looking after the refugees in Wadi Khaled, said that few people had managed to enter Lebanon in recent weeks. 'They had to take the illegal passageways and those border areas have become increasingly dangerous.'

He said: 'The humanitarian situation is getting worse inside Syria. The world community should stop making speeches and instead act before it's too late.'