Abu-Mahmoud used to own 4 houses in the neighborhood, in which he lived with his sons, before three of them left Syria because of war, while Abu-Mahmoud remained there with his daughter.

The evacuation of Abu-Mahmoud’s house was executed under “Decree 66” that aimed to construct an integrated urban area. Although the decree had been passed 7 years ago, Abu-Mahmoud’s sons didn’t receive alternative housing. The decree stipulates providing “alternative housing” in 4 years from its issuance in 2012, but the property of Abu-Mahmoud’s sons was confiscated; as they were abroad and could not prove the house ownership upon evacuation.

Abou Mahmoud’s family and another 150 thousand residents in Mazzeh and Kafr Soussa are homeless until now, waiting for the “alternative housing”, while most departed families did not receive proper leases or compensation to secure a shelter during the determined period for executing the decree.

The issue became more complicated when Damascus Governorate required high prices for delivering “alternative housing” which is not yet available, while evicted families are going through difficult economic conditions, which makes it impossible for them to pay such high prices, according to this report.

Over 6 months, the report reveals that Damascus Governorate violates some clauses of “Decree 66”, most significantly is the non-commitment to the determined term set to provide residents the “alternative housing”, for high prices, in addition to the low, insufficient and late lease allowance that should have been given to evicted families to secure a residence until they can receive their alternative houses from the governorate.

An alternative housing is a house a resident receives instead of their informal one located in the area stated in the decree. Alternative housing should have been available within 4 years of the issuance of the decree, but the related paragraph in Law no. 10 has been amended to stipulate delivering the alternative housing after 4 years from evacuating the house.

Regulatory instructions for alternative housing for entitled beneficiaries were issued only in 2015 (three years after the decree was issued), in decree no. 112 issued by the Minister of Housing, which left the alternative housing entitled beneficiaries homeless during all this time.

Also the residents that were absent during evaluating the neighborhood houses have lost their entitlements and couldn’t register their houses to receive lease allowances and alternative housing. This was confirmed by Gomaa Al-Hallaq, law expert, and 3 other residents.

No Ownership Rights

“Four eviction notices (one notice for each house) were issued, Damascus Governorate has checked my family’s house in the presence of my father, and was aware the house is inhabited. When the second check was to be conducted, my father and brother were visiting Turkey, but my sister was there in the house, the check committee photographed the house, but labeled it in papers as “closed house”, meaning they didn’t acknowledge our ownership of the house” says Mahmoud, Abu Mahmoud’s elder son who lives in Turkey, describing what happened as “uprooting out of the district”.

Four Eviction Notices (exclusive)

“We notified property owners of the checking and registration processes. 8200 people have declared their entitlement. We, in cooperation with honest and just judges, have matched the entitlements with real estate’s authorities, and it resulted in registering the properties of 5500 people, while ownership could not be proven for the other 2700,” said Jamal Al-Youssef, Decree 66 former enforcer.

Verifying the non-entitlement of those people, Ghaleb Eniz, member of Damascus Governorate Council, says “Damascus Governorate, when Governor Beshr Al-Sabban was in position, instructed properties owners, who sought to register their possession, to submit a travel/ departure statement to confirm their presence in the country, in order to ban those citizens abroad from registering their properties and consequently not proving their ownership of houses inside the integrated urban area, knowing that this procedure is not stated in decree no. 112 issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, yet it was attached to Decree 66 to regulate providing the alternative housing. Therefore, around 2700 families were deprived of alternative housing; most of them were out of the state and could not submit the required statement proving their presence in the country”.

Decision 112 (exclusive)

Clause “D” of the decision states that “alternative housing beneficiary shall submit proved entitlement of their house over the period from the decree issuance date until evacuation date” but didn’t refer to people who are out of the country.

Eniz noted that some cases were registered as closed houses (not possessed), although owners were present inside Syria, but when conducting the checking process, they were not present, for any reason. When appeals were allowed, only 100 people out of two thousand objectors were registered entitled.

Jamal Al-Youssef, former enforcer of Decree 66, verifies the late conduction due to “the State’s conditions”; as work was not allowed upon issuing the decree. When it was allowed to enter Khalaf Al-Razi district in 2013, work commenced.

According to Jamal Al-Youssef, the number of alternative housing entitlements reached 5500 out of 6500 citizens who applied, indicating that 1000 citizens were deprived from the alternative housing.

“We announced receiving appeals, 550 objectors applied, and a committee was formed to discover the lack of some documents like a proof of the citizen’s presence inside the country and citizen’s compliance to army reserve admission. Out of 550 appeals, only 119 were examined after submitting the required documents that prove alternative housing entitlement” said Al-Youssef.

Alternative Housing or Expropriation?

Although more than 3 years have passed, Abu-Yasser and his 5 children, who evicted their home at Khalaf al-Razi region, on May 16, 2015, are still waiting for the alternative housing Abu-Yasser had to sell more than half his shares in the project, about 37 million Syrian liras (worth 37’000 USD) in Marsoum region, to buy a house in Reef Dimashq, because the “rent allowance” which is given to him by the Damascus governorate.

Abu-Yasser says, “I couldn’t adapt to life in the countryside, I couldn’t move my factory from Khalaf al-Razi region to the new place I live in, due to the fast eviction, which left me unemployed”.

Abu-Yasser described what happened as expropriation, as he was forced to sell more than half his shares in the project, move to Reef Dimashq and lose his source of income. He explained that Damascus governorate “cut off the power and water supply in his region, to force people to move out”.

Abu-Yasser received the first rent allowance in November 2018 (2 years after they were evicted) and the second time was 5 months later. “Had I been a tenant, I and my family would have been homeless, due to the delay of the rent allowance cheques”. His rent allowance was estimated by 652’000 liras per year (about 650 USD), while he has not yet received the third rent allowance due to the delay that happened.

Rent allowance is paid every year in the form of monthly bills of 50’000 liras each. Rents in Damascus start from 100’000 liras, according to a broker in the city.

Changing Housing Locations

Damascus governorate changed alternative housing location from the first organizational area (Maruta City) to the second, (Basilia City), according to the statement of Bilal Na’al, board member of “Damascus Holding” which participates in the project, during the ordinary session of Damascus municipality on October 11, 2019, which means residence will be moved from an economically active region to a place far from the city center.

Legal expert Jum’a Hallaq said, “The organizational plan was changed more than once, although the alternative housing buildings should be within the first area (Maruta City), according to decree no. 66, articles 19 and 20”. So the alternative housing will not be delivered until the second (Basilia City), which is not yet ready, is finished. Until now, the organizational plans have not been set, and the inhabitants of the area have not been evicted, which means delivering alternative housing units will further be delayed.

Estimation Committees Waste Owners’ Rights

Article 7 of the decree no. 66 states that committees of legal experts and real estate experts are to be formed to estimate the value of the rent allowance and the areas of the ‘prospect’ alternative housing units.

The committee consists of a judge, appointed by the Minister of Justice, who acts as the head of the committee, two real estate evaluation experts, appointed by the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, in addition to two experts who represent the owners”.

But these committees failed to evaluate many properties accurately, and wasted the owners’ rights, according to the statements of some owners who think their properties were “underestimated”.

Fahd, 30 years, was one of the residents of Khalaf al-Razi, said, “The committee measured the area of his house, but changed its description, like the type of bricks and marble, thus depreciating its value. When he objected, the architect in charge said, “All is the same to us”.

Ghalib Onayz thinks that the committees that carry out the evaluation and documentation are not infallible, they have made mistakes that have not been corrected. Evaluation and description records were not published, as in case they were published citizens would be able to object to them and demand his rights.

Reporters tried to know the reason why the evaluation and description records were not published, through asking the directorate responsible for executing decree 66, which keeps the records, but a source in the directorate refused to comment.

The bigger problem was when the Damascus governorate employees registered Um-Khaled’s house in the name of another woman, who has nothing to do with the house.

Um-Khaled said, “It is my property, but I had hosted one of my friends who was displaced from Jobar and when the employee came from the governorate, his name was Mudar, he asked my friend: Who are you? She said: A guest from Jobar. Yet he took her ID and her husband’s ID, and registered their data, and later it turned out that my own house was registered in my friend’s name in front of my eyes”.

Um-Khaled filed a complaint, but to no avail, because the reassessment process needs a court order, as the responsible committee is judicial, which makes the correction difficult. She said, “I lost my house in a moment due to this injustice”.

Jamal al-Yusuf, the director of execution of decree no. 66, replied that “the committees did not commit any mistakes, and those who complained could not produce any authentic document to prove their claims,” adding that “the work is done through an automated institutional mentality”.

Incorrect evictions

The unpleasant surprise for Hala (56 years) and her family was when they got evicted from their 3 storey home on March 27, 2017.

She said that security elements summoned her and told her that they should evict their home within 15 days, although other home owners had received notice months before her without executing the eviction. She saw the eviction executed equally to all the residents of the region.

Hala had to evict her home and could not even sell all her furniture, because whe was forced to evict within 15 days without prior notice.

Six other residents of the same area narrated stories similar to Hala’s, they said evictions were not implemented correctly, and that there was violence and ill-treatment of civilians.

Legal expert Jum’a Hallaq explained that Damascus governorate totally evicted the area of Khalaf al-Razi in 2017, in a clear violation to article 40 of the decree, which states: “Damascus governorate shall be responsible for delivering the land of the divisions empty to the owners within a maximum of 90 days from the date they obtained the construction permits, as the governorate has evicted the area before issuing the permits.” This means that issuing construction permits should take place before the eviction process.

By searching the governorate’s archives, reporters discovered that the first eviction notice was issued in September 2015, while the first construction permit was issued in 2019.

Hala narrated the stories of some of the residents of the area who were evicted during the school year, which resulted in interrupting the educational process for most of the region’s children.

Within one week Fahd was evicted from his home, in Khalaf al-Razi, with his furniture, so he had to stay homeless for two months, looking for a place for his family to stay.

Fahd said, “I was living on my own property which I had built on my father’s land. It was 90 square meters, and I didn’t have to pay rent. Now I’m living in a single room in an old house in Sheikh Sa’d district, with 5 members of my family”.

However, despite this suffering, Fahd still hopes to receive alternative housing―even after a while―because his house’s area is 90 square meters, and the roofed area in his house is less than 40 square meters. Hence, he does not get a separate house in the new project, according to article no. 3 of resolution 112. And if more than one family lives in the apartment, it gets a new one with the same exact area of the old house.

The legal expert, Jomaa Al Hallaq, believes that this article prompted the public to sell their shares, to be able to carry on. Explaining that these people won’t be able to buy anything in the Decree stated area.

Alternative Housing that is Beyond its Residents’ Affordability

According to Article 45 of Decree 66, the duration set for providing alternative housing was four years after the decree was issued in 2012, which means that alternative housing is supposed to be ready by the year 2016.

But when Damascus failed to secure alternative housing during such a period, the well-known “Law No.10” stated in article no. 25 that the period of alternative housing delivery is four years from the date of home evacuation, instead of 4 years from the date of the issuance of Decree 66.

Taking into consideration the presence of owners who evacuated their homes in 2015, the amendment that was stipulated in Law No. 10 was also not complied with, as they evacuated their homes 5 years ago, and were supposed to have received their alternative apartments within 2019.

Jamal Al Youssef estimates the square meter’s price of an apartment in the alternative housing project, between 270 and 300 thousand SYP (300 USD) as a real cost for construction only, excluding the value of land, street & lighting expenses. Where payments are supposed to be made in installments over the span of 25 years, with interest rate of 10%, provided that the first installment payment should be covering 10% of the property’s value according to resolution 112.

Mr. Al Youssef considers this fair, “As those living in illegal or informal buildings, weren’t paying any fees or taxes, and the state was offering them free services, that’s why it is time for things to change.”

He believes that citizens benefited from the project, once the entitlement of the alternative housing is allocated, they can sell it and gain profits, while he urged those who cannot pay for alternative housing, to “find a way” either by making a good use of their resources and assets, or by taking loans, noting that Damascus cannot issue a law that suits everyone’s circumstances.

In economic terms, 30 million SYP―about 30,000 USD―is the price of a 100-square-meter home, in addition to 10% interest. Hence, the price becomes 33.5 million SYP. A price that those entitled to alternative housing can’t manage to afford, which Ghalib Unaiz considers a way “that opens the door in front of the major real estate traders.”

Futile Rental Allowances

Article 44, Decree 66, stipulates that those who aren’t entitled to alternative housing be granted rental compensation for two years. In addition to compensating those who are entitled to alternative housing, with an annual rent until they receive their housing, and the payment is to be made within one month from the date of notification of the evacuation notice.

Today, Hala pays a rent of 125,000 SYP for a home made up of two small rooms in Damascus, while her house rent allowance was estimated at 750,000 SYP. She said that: “This rental allowance doesn’t cover half of what I pay, especially given the high rent prices, and the difficulty of finding a house to rent due to the high demand in some regions,” the thing that forced her to sell part of her shares in the regulated area to cover her rental expenses.

On the other hand, Fahd pays 75,000 SYP per month for one room with no utilities, and his rent allowance is not enough. “However, Damascus is still late in paying rent allowances and doesn’t give us the money on its due date.” He said.

“The poor value of the rental allowance prompted the public to sell their shares in the project, and to date, the rental allowance isn’t paid on time in addition to the postponement of the date of demolition related to the payment of the rental allowance.” Jomaa Al Hallaq said.

However those who aren’t entitled to alternative housing are about 2500 families out of almost 8500. These families are granted a rental allowance for two years only from the date of evacuation while their fate remains unknown after that period.

Ghalib Unaiz, a member of Damascus Governorate Council, Ghalib Eneiz, believes it’s “Unfair to these families,” and says: “2,500 families used to be stable and live peacefully, and now they became homeless.” Moreover, he explained: “The state is obligated, under the constitution, to provide housing for its citizens.”

Um Muhammad has been living for about 50 years in Khalaf Al Razi (Old Rent), she couldn’t prove that she’s a renter because she didn’t have the old tenancy agreement which led to depriving her of alternative housing and rent allowance. Although she objected to the Decree 66 Implementation Directorate three times, she did not get any help, and the Directorate’s staff informed her that it’s all her fault and she must return to the court to object.

Despite the fact that renters, who don’t own lands and have been living in the region before the year 2000, get 30% of the residential real estate shares and 40% of the commercial real estate shares, according to article no. (44) of Decree no. (66).

Jamal Al Youssef considers the rent allowance a “state contribution” to help citizens rent a house until alternative housing is ready, and admits that there’s been a delay in paying the entitlement of the alternative housing―because of the “general situation”―adding that the governorate paid almost 8 billion SYP in compensation for the rent allowance.

Mr. Al Youssef confirms that the rent allowance is not enough, and many objections were registered against it, but the specification of the rental allowance was conducted by judicial committees and issued with a final judicial decision. It can only be amended by amending the law, the thing that requires another judicial decision.

Mr. Al Youssef expects that the alternative housing will be ready within a year and a half from now. “We cannot continue to pay rent allowances, it’s a heavy burden for us” He said.

A Stumbled Beginning for Reconstruction

Decree no. (66) and its implementation gaps represented a ‘stumbled beginning’ for the reconstruction of Syria, which became an international media sensation. And despite the passage of 8 years since the decree was issued, no actual reconstruction operation has been carried out so far. While the residents of the area mentioned in the decree have remained homeless since their evacuation.

The project consists of two regulated areas, the first “Marota City”―which means (sovereignty) in Aramaic―and the second “Basilia City”, which means (Paradise). Marota City covers an area of 2 million and 149 thousand square meters in Khalaf Al Razi region, it will include 12,000 apartments distributed among 168 towers, ranging between 11 and 22 floors each. While Basilia City covers an area of 9 million square meters on the southern ring-road between al-Qadam and Yarmouk Camp. It will include 4,000 apartments, according to the data provided by the companies participating in the implementation of the regulated area.

Both, Marota and Basilia, were presented as Syria’s first “three dimensional” smart cities with luxurious infrastructures, automated services, online traffic control, educational, cultural, entertainment and tourism centers, to attract investors to Syria and create a new “Dubai” in Damascus.

However, this luxury didn’t do Mahmoud any good when his father died due to being forced to evacuate the house, and he lost his right to its ownership. Moreover, such luxury meant nothing to hundreds of families who were displaced from their homes, without having anything to rely on but rental allowances that are not sufficient to rent a small room in Damascus. They were left waiting for an open date for their return to their new houses.

The Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism (SIRAJ)

The post “Fake houses”: Decree 66 Breaches its Promises and Expels Syrian families appeared first on SIRAJ.

In Lebanon, the presence of Syrian refugees has been part of the discourse of public influential figures. As investigative journalists, we were prompted to analyze this discourse. Over the course of 10 months of work, we have documented, filtered and analyzed thousands of Tweets to identify supporters of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and those who oppose taking them in.

During the period of our reporting, Lebanon witnessed numerous campaigns and advocacy calls, among which were those triumphing the Syrian cause, or advocating the conditions of refugees in Lebanon. For example, hundreds of Syrian and Lebanese activists have tweeted in the last two years under the hashtag  #عرسال_تستغيث in an attempt to send a distress message about the horrid living conditions refugees endure in camps.

This data-driven story revealed that more than half of the tweets included in the analysis sample rejected Syrian refugees. Male rejection was more pronounced than women, with 95% of male tweets rejecting refugees, compared to 5% of tweets by women

Influential Figures

Our team of journalists and technical team at InfoTimes collaborated with a team of editors from the Syrian Investigative Journalism Unit (SIRAJ) to study and analyze the tweets of a group of Lebanese public figures from February 2011 to September 2019, where 101 individuals were selected according to their public presence and activity on Twitter, as well as their influence on the Lebanese street.

The data collection process from the social networking platform Twitter was done using algorithms specially designed for this process.Following the collection of Tweets by the figures under study, they were divided into three sectors according to their professions. The first included 41 figures working as journalists, opinion writers, and rights activists. The second sector comprised of 36 politicians, party members, government officials and statesmen. The last sector included 24 celebrities, mainly singers and actors.

Following the software algorithms, we examined and filtered approximately 238,000 tweets to extract tweets related to the subject of the Syrian asylum in Lebanon. A total of 1,454 tweets were written by 68 Lebanese of the total figures monitored in the search process.

Then we sorted the tweets and classified them into three main groups: group 1 has positive tweets – tweets that contained sympathy and support for the presence of Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Group 2 has negative tweets – tweets that included opposition, repatriation and hatred for the presence of Syrian refugees in Lebanon and called for their return to their country. Group 3 was the neutral tweets – those tweets that did not contain words of sympathy and support nor words of hatred and hostility.

Flagrant Hatred

The analysis of tweets showed a conflicting view of the refugees, as 30% of the Lebanese figures supported the refugees, while 51% rejected them, which explains the emergence of voices calling for the return of Syrian refugees, describing the as “displaced”.

These percentages illustrate the officials’ position concerning Syrian refugees, and the apparent division of the Lebanese public on this matter. There was no apparent conflict of opinion or change of attitudes by any of the figures being researched. Even if sympathy emerged among one or two people who oppose the Syrian asylum in Lebanon, it was a manifestation of some humanity, but it does not rise to be a visible change in the general attitude of this character. Nevertheless, 19% of the public figures’ Tweets were neutral.

The analysis revealed high rejection of refugees,  where the list of negative Tweets amounted to 114. Some of these public figures are from the axis supporting the Syrian regime and some from the anti-Syrian axis, such as figures from the “Marada”, figures from the Future Movement, figures from the Lebanese Forces Party, figures from the current “Azm”, in addition to figures from The Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), government officials, and MPs in the Lebanese parliament.

But the most prominent and obvious role in the rejection of refugees and prominent support for the Syrian regime, was played by the Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, leader of President Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement, who often called for the need to return the “displaced” Syrians to their country.

Sympathy and Support

On the other hand, there were those who supported the Syrian refugees and positively dealt with their situation, such as figures from the Progressive Socialist Party in Lebanon, figures from the Future Movement, media personnel  and human rights activist Nabil Halabi, Lebanese journalist Tony Boulos and journalist Rima Maktabi, celebrity Fadel Shaker, media personnel Dalal Moawad, and others.

Lebanese women were present in dealing with the situation of Syrian refugees on Twitter, and they had smaller portion of negative Tweets. Only 5% of 736 Tweets by women were negative. Women accounted for nearly a third of positive posts. Lebanese journalist Rima Maktabi was at the forefront of the most supportive of Syrian refugees throughout her Tweets for eight years.

Hatred in a Historical Context

In the search for the reasons that have created the rejection of Syrian presence in Lebanon, even before the Syrian protests and the outbreak of military actions, a historical factor related to the political relations between the two countries emerges, namely the length of the Syrian army’s presence in Lebanon during the period of the Lebanese civil war until 2005. This role was manifested in the exercise of absolute rule in Lebanon and the imposition of “trusteeship”, domination, and control. This presence was associated with abuses, repression and oppressive practices that restricted public freedom. This created a general aversion in Lebanon towards any Syrian, whose presence was described as an occupation.

In line with this sentiment towards the Syrian people in Lebanon, another factor related to the economic situation in Lebanon is highlighted. Some say that the Syrian workers in Lebanon reduce the job opportunities of the Lebanese and adds to the unemployment crisis, as pointed out by the Lebanese Minister of Labor Sajaan Azz in the London Arab newspaper, who said that “about one million Syrians compete with the Lebanese labor without controls, and that is a heavy burden on the Lebanese economy and on the opportunities available to the Lebanese labor force. “

The Battles Move from Twitter to the Ground

The hate speech that emerged through the tweets of some politicians and public figures against Syrian refugees in Lebanon, was not words written on social media, but translated into reality in many situations, where the levels of attack and harassment of refugees by local municipalities in some areas, as well as state agencies and authorities, were heightened, according to human rights defenders.

In an April 2018 Human Rights Watch report, it was stated that at least 13 municipalities in Lebanon had forcibly evicted at least 3,664 Syrian refugees from their homes and expelled them from municipalities, and that evictions by municipalities were discriminatory and illegal. The report also said that another 42,000 are at the same risk because of their “nationality or religion”.

Human Rights Watch reported that this operation resulted in refugees losing their income and property, and disrupted their children’s education, including those who had been absent from school for months and others who had completely stopped attending school.

But how can social media and Twitter’s rhetoric affect the fate of the nearly one million Syrians living in this country? Through this question and through data obtained after analyzing the Tweets, we wanted to talk to people on the Lebanese street to know more about their opinion on the issue of Syrian asylum in Lebanon. Opinions were divided between supporters of the idea of returning refugees to their country, and those who support their presence in Lebanon, but under certain conditions.

“The Syrian displacement crisis in Lebanon has turned into a social crisis with significant economic and other implications, and this requires the cooperation of several parties to find a solution, such as Syria and the United Nations,” said Elias Melki, secretary of the Lebanese Forces political formation body.

As such, Melki puts forward his party’s proposal to establish camps in the Syrian territories that are not affiliated with the Syrian regime or the opposition, but fall under international auspices until the political solution in Syria matures. He also stresses the need for the Syrian regime to cooperate to return the refugees to their land, “if it is keen to do so.”

Elian Saad, a young woman affiliated with the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), said “I encourage the return of displaced Syrians to safe areas in Syria for many reasons”.

On the security front, Saad sees Syrian asylum as a danger, especially in the camps that she considers “hotbeds of the terrorist cell”. She also encourages the cooperation of international organizations with the Syrian regime for the return of displaced persons, especially since many areas have become safe.

On the other hand, Sobhi Amhaz, a Lebanese journalist, objects to the term “safe return”, considering that the return must be voluntary in accordance with all international conventions, because the concept of safety is relative.”It is not enough that the region be safe, [it is different] for Syrian opposition activists, for example,” he says.

Amhaz believes that “there are Lebanese cultural legacies that consider anyone who is a foreigner to be an outsider to the Lebanese fabric.”

He also misconstrues the idea of “increasing unemployment due to Syrian asylum in Lebanon,” stressing the absence of clear policies in the Lebanese labor market before 2011, so there is no responsibility on the Syrians. On the contrary, he believes that the Lebanese state benefits from donations and money that is pumped into its treasury, which it receives in return for receiving refugees.

Mohammed Hassan, founder of the Access Center for Human Rights, commented on the results of the analysis, saying: “The aggression against foreigners is not new behavior, before the Syrian asylum in Lebanon, there was enslavement of foreign workers, especially Domestic workers who come to Lebanon in very difficult conditions from their home countries”, through the offices that bring in domestic workers, which falls under domestic law.

He added that the recent increasing hostility towards Syrian refugees was represented by speeches through social media and Lebanese media, which is the main reason for the increasing tension between the Lebanese and Syrian societies.

Hassan summarized the most prominent violations caused by hate speeches from Lebanese politicians and official media that violate local and international laws. This includes the decisions of the Lebanese municipalities to prevent the movement of refugees and forced them to work forced labor and pay monthly contributions for municipal services already funded by the government, as well as decisions of deportation “legalized” by the Lebanese General Security at Beirut airport, which violates the Convention under Article II, Article III of the Convention against Torture, And the Lebanese Constitution.

Report by: Mohammad Waked, Ammar Al-Khasawneh

Researchers: Abdul Rahman Al-Khader, Ahmad Rahal, Manar Abu Hassoun

Translation: Aya Nader

Edited by: Mohamed Zidan, Mohamed Bassiki

The post Analysis of Tweets Showcases Hatred Towards Syrian Refugees Among Lebanon’s Elite appeared first on SIRAJ.

By Ali Alibrahim and Ahmed Haj Hamdo

Published on Daraj Media

wiping away his tears of grief, Mohammed, a doctor in his forties at Dar al-Rahma Medical Center in the Eastern Ghouta area of rural Damascus, gathers the leftovermedicines from his desk inside a small bag.The doctor said: “The hundreds of cancer patients, whose health records have been stacked up in a wooden cabinet, have been waitig months for “salvation”.

Just now, Samer, a child who has not yet completedthe age of 5, accompanied by his grandmother, a 50-year-old woman, arrived to the Center, which is the only medical center specialized in treating cancer patients. He is among the 559 cancer patientsin the Ghouta,according to the center’s statistics. He is awaiting for doses of treatment, which have completely run outduring the siege imposed by the Syrian regime forces.

The grandmothersays, “his fatherhas beenimprisoned for about three years, while his mother has migrated to Egypt.So, he is left with me to look after.”

She adds thatSamer”was complained of pain in his stomach and feet.While providing medical examination for him, the doctorsdiscovered hehad blood cancer. we started to treat himin the Dar al-Rahma.But today, he is without treatment because doses are not available.”

Death threatens everyone

The siege on the eastern Ghouta, which includes dozens of villages, towns and cities and ispopulated by about 400,000 civilians, has imposed a dire situation on cancer patients due to the totallack of medical treatment and the destruction of the entire healthcare system.

First, Ghouta was partially besieged in October 2012.Then, almost a year later, in 2013, the siege wastightenedafter a military shift on the ground for the sake of the Syrian regime forces, which advanced from many axes.Consequently, the lives of the hundreds of injured people were in danger because of the interruption to the supply of medicines, amid the appeals bythemedical and relief arms of the United Nations, based in Damascus, to bring in the convoys of relief and medical assistance.

Again, in February 2017, the Syrian regime forces and allied militia carried out an assault on the Al-Qaboun and Tishreen districts northeast of the capital Damascus , taking control of all the tunnels used to smuggle medicines and necessities from the regime-controlled areas to besieged areas.As a result,theeastern Ghouta has been completely blockaded without any outlet and cut off from the world for eight months.

This prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to express its “deep concern over the deteriorating health situation in theeastern Ghouta area of rural Damascus, and it called for immediately allowing life-saving aid.

The WHO confirmed that the three government hospitals in addition to 17 public healthcare facilities in the eastern Ghouta are not working, and thatpeople cannot reach them, pointing out that its health partners have allocated additional suppliesthat are readyto be delivered once the access is granted. But, the WHO has not been given permission for access.

“Within two weeks, all medicines will have beenrun out.If the siege continues, there will be a massacre committed against the sick,” said Dr. Wisam al-Ruz, a director of Dar al-Rahma Center.

Impossible dream of treatment

 The lack of medical treatment has not only affected children, but also the elderly, women and the pregnant. Themedical treatment is now a dream as people say.

Sara, a woman in her 20s from Douma, has received cancer treatment for about a year inthe same center where Samer is treated. She reached a late stage of treatment and began to recover.But now, her health situation is worsening because she is deprived of medical doses which have run out, according to a specialist doctor at Dar al-Rahma Medical Center.

Sarah knows that the fate of cancer patients is “inevitable death”.”We are cancer patients.Although we are sure that our fate is inevitable death, we arehoping of living for a few more years, but even this hope has fadedas the siege continues,” she said calmly.

Sarah is among 559 cancer patients who are waiting for medicine,while their records remain stacked up inside Dar al-Rahma.Now, the Center can provide doses to only 3% of patients and their records are waiting a decision from the medical staff of the Center,according to the director of Dar al-Rahma, Wisam al-Roz.

Therefore, the Syrian Human Rights Network considered that the siege of al-Ghouta is a form of collective punishment. The network’s director, Fadel Abdel Ghani, emphasized that most of death cases caused by the siege were of vulnerable groups such as infants, the elderly, the sick, and the injuredin repeated bombardments, and there are no sufficient medicines to treat them. In addition, the siegehas reflected badly on chronic patients, especiallythose with cancer.

Escaping for treatment

 over the last three months, 20 cancer patients have died in Dar al-Rahma Center, approximately every five days one of thecancer patientsdies.Such patients, including four children under 10 months old,were receiving medical treatment. But the Center is no longer able to renew its stock of anti-cancer drugs.

The Center has been rationing its limited stock of medicines because ofthe shortage of supplies. While, Prior to the siege, the Center managed to cure 37% of the cancer patients, and only 10% of them dieduntil the end of 2016, according to the director of the Center.

Because of the siege, the Center has been forced to change the course of treatment by reducing the amounts of doses given to some patients. As a result, those patients, who were recovering, have relapsed, according to a specialized nurse at the Center.

The treatment of cancer is divided into two types, the first through Chemotherapyand the second through radiotherapy. According to the director of Dar Al-Rahma Center, patientswere undergoingradiotherapy or chemotherapy or both, depending on the progression of cancer disease.

The medical staff of the Center confirmed to the author of this investigative report that patientswho needradiotherapy were going to Damascus through tunnels for treatment, which is only available atAl-NawawiHospital in the capitalDamascus, while we secured doses from the capital in different way to patients who are in need ofchemotherapy.

“But today after the closure of the tunnels, there is no possibility of providing either of the treatments, and the Center is in danger of running out of steam not for financial reasons but because there are no drugs to treat patients.”

Unavailable Drugs

 What hinders access to medicines, which are completely unavailable, is because the production and supply is controlled by the Syrian Ministry of Health, which has prevented medicinesfrom enteringthe Ghouta and not allowed the patients to be evacuated to the hospitals of the capital Damascus, according to a number of patients and relief workers in the ​​Harasta and Douma areas in the eastern Ghouta.

“Since the closure of the tunnels, which served as anunderground lifeline for half a million people, the cancer drugs have been cut off, andtoday, ifdrugsare available, their prices are very high and patients cannot afford them at all,” said BakrAbd al-Salam, a field doctor. “Some medicines cost more than a thousand dollars, which is anastronomical sum at the current timein the eastern Ghouta, while they don’t exceed a few pounds in value, in Damascus,” he added.

Treatment in Idlib

When asked by the journalists about the steps to stop the “disaster” threatening the lives of hundreds of patients, the World Health Organization said it has formally requested the Syrian government to evacuate patients from the eastern Ghouta in order to be treatedeither in Damascus or Idlib, according to their own will.

The WHO has been submitting to the Security Council a monthly report on the constraints and difficulties confronting the efforts to provide health and humanitarian assistance to the besiegedand hard-to-reach areas of Syria.

According to organization’s statements that the author of this investigative reportread, 7 tons of medical supplies, medicines and equipment were sent through inter-agency relief convoys to the health facilities in the besieged area, to which the last convoy got through on October 30, 2017.

Mr. Jan Egeland, UN humanitarian adviser for Syria,said:”400,000 People are trapped in the eastern Ghouta near Damascus, facing’completecatastrophe’, and hundreds of people need urgent medical evacuation. Deprived of being evacuated, Seven patients have died, and 28 patients, including 18 children, areon the brink of death. ”

Regarding cancer patients,who live under the threat of death with a tiny bit of hope, they have been included in the list submitted to the Syrian government and will be evacuated to receive appropriate treatment, according to the WHO.

Snowballing crisis

Mohammed Ali Asida, the most recent victim of the siege, died on Nov.4, 2017 in the town of Hazza in the eastern Ghouta, after his health situationdeteriorated due to bowel cancer and the lack of essential medicines.

Supposedly, the residents of the eastern Ghouta andof all the besieged cities in Syria should have been spared from this situation, as three months ago a deal, coming into effect on the 18th of last August, was agreed among the guarantor states of Iran, Russia and Turkey to set up de-escalation zones in the Eastern Ghouta and three other areas.

The section 7 of the agreement provides that ”the both partiesshall immediately take all necessary measures to imrove the humanitarian situation in the de-escalation zones;and to that end, the both parties shall ensure and facilitate the immediate entry of relief convoys of food and medicinesas well as other humanitarian needs through two crossing points controlled by the first party, the regime, in EinTarma and Harasta. This will be accompanied by the evacuation of patients to Syrian or Russian hospitals, according to their own will.”

Therefore, the continuing siege constitutes a violation of one of the main provisions of the agreement on “de-escalation zones”and a “clear breach” of it, which should have alleviated the suffering of civilians, primarily the sick.

“The Syrian regime and Russia have not complied with the agreement, and there is no seriousness by them to abide by suchprovisions, the most important of which is the opening of humanitarian corridors,” said WaelAllwan, a spokesman for Failak Al-rahman,an opposing faction in the Eastern Ghouta.

“The agreement is not very different from the previous ones, whichcompletely havenot been translated into reality,” he added.

On the other hand, It has not been possible to contact an official Syrian body to express its opinion on this subject.

Complex bureaucratic approval process

As well as the breaching of the agreement on de-escalation zones, the siege imposed on the patients in the eastern Ghouta constitutes a violation of Security Council resolution 2254, which in article 12 states that “the parties shall immediately provide humanitarian agencies with rapid, safe and unhindered access to all parts of Syria through the most direct routes, and that the parties shall immediately allowhumanitarian assistance for all those in need, especially in the besieged and inaccessible areas  “.

But, the Syrian regime, which is supposed to allow access for humanitarian agencies, has not implemented that article, and neither hasthe International Syria Support Group, which should have used their influence as superpowers on the besieging party to achieve this aim.

Thestate of thissiege, whichis not the first of its kind in Syria, resemblestheprevious tragicones thatresulted in the deaths of civilians in Zabadani, Madaya, Darayya and other areas.This happens because of many reasons, the most notable of which is thatthe Syrian regime controls humanitarian convoys. That is what Human Rights Watchconfirmedin its annual report published at the end of 2016. The reportindicated thatthe Syrian government has continued to require relief agencies to obtain permission throughcomplex bureaucratic approval before accessingsuch areas.

Today, the UN teams in Damascus have no choice butto appeal for help in overcoming obstacles and to issue reports documenting the most terrible scenes of the siege and the daily deathsof patients and civilians,in the absence of the effective pressure mechanisms, which have been set out in relevant United Nations resolutions.Meanwhile, 350,000 people await their unknown fate in the eastern Ghouta and 559 patients await looming death.

• This investigative report is prepared by the support and supervision of the Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism (SIRAJ).

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