World
Lebanon’s internal refugees face racism, discrimination and evictions in search for safety
The dusty corridors, broken windows, and locked doors of the apartment block in central Beirut are testament to Lebanon’s ongoing economic disaster.
But this relic of one crisis has been repurposed for the latest.
Hundreds of people fleeing Israeli bombing in the south of the country have come here – and taken over the building.
They’ve cleared rooms of junk, and installed water, electricity, and naked bulbs for lighting.
But the refugees here face not just difficult living conditions but resentment – sometimes racist – and suspicion because many have come from Dahieh, in the south of the city: Hezbollah territory.
Hawraa Saad fled Dahieh and lives here with her husband and three young children in a single room that she has made spotless.
“When we came, it was extremely dirty,” she tells Sky News. “I cleaned it very well because I have little kids who have allergies, and we can’t afford to go to the hospital.”
This week, however, police came to clear out the new occupants. It quickly became a small-scale riot, with objects being thrown. Some 400 families had been here before; now only 170 remain.
Hawraa Saad and her husband fled Dahieh and lives in Beirut with her husband and three young children
“We have no options,” another woman who asks not to be identified says.
“We had to sleep in the streets yesterday because we didn’t want to face the police again and get beaten. We are not settlers or terrorists; we are just seeking shelter.”
The Lebanese government says more than 1.2 million people have been displaced because of Israel’s attacks on the country – a significant proportion of the total population of around 5.8 million.
They have been put up in schools and shelters but they are now full. And others told us that people from Dahieh find it harder to find accommodation.
One Syrian man, who asked not to be identified for fear of losing his job, tells us that landlords were refusing to take families, even those willing to pay.
One of the rooms in the house that has been repurposed for refugees
Unrest broke out last week after police tried to clear families from the building
“When there are big families, they are worried that they are connected to Hezbollah; they have security concerns,” he said.
“There are some cases where they rent to them for one day and then kick them out the next.”
He says that his wife, who wears a veil, was questioned by the security services. He sent her and their son back to Syria for their safety.
Others echo that tale.
Sherine Ahmad, 26, fled Israeli bombing in Dahieh with her husband and one-year-old son. She was heavily pregnant and when she arrived in Beirut, she gave birth to another son, a month premature. He remains in the intensive care unit of a local hospital.
She is now staying in Mar Elias, a refugee camp founded in 1952, now a sprawling mass of concrete tenements.
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“Here, I feel some people are racist; when they know we are Palestinians, they don’t help us,” she says.
“They only help Lebanese. However, since this is a camp for Palestinians, we receive better treatment.
“There are people who don’t like those coming from Dahieh, while others welcome and support them.
“Imagine running away and escaping while having to think about where you will go and whether you will be welcomed or not.”
All the while we speak, an Israeli drone whirrs loudly above us, circling the city.
It is still not quite an escape, not while the war still rages.