Syrian-Lebanese border piece
So I wrote this ages ago, and recently I got a request from an Australian newspaper to interview me over the work I was doing with the Red Cresent in Syria - Random, but I'd left Syria for a while by then so I had to decline. Anyway I decided to post this to give you an idea of what went down is those days of the war... Now we know how it progressed I guess that this is out of date, but this is how it was to be there.
approximately 26th July
Even at 1.30 in the morning the Red-Crescent volunteers (The Middle Eastern arm of the Red Cross) are in high spirits. Returning from the Syrian-Lebanese border, we had worked for the last 8 hours handing out food, water, and medicine to people fleeing the crises in Lebanon and The Palestinian Territories. The elation came from feeling useful in a useless war; "Syria is the only country doing anything" one volunteer told me.
This is reinforced by the head of the Syrian Red Crescent who said there were struggling for any external support and would be appealing to the International Red Cross to raise awareness and donations. There are people willing to help on the ground here, but there is a limit of supplies.
Syria, one of the poorest countries in the Middle East, has welcomed a huge number of Lebanese since the start of the Israeli offensive, with an estimated 200,000 Lebanese, and Palestinians from Lebanese camps, seeking refuge from their neighbour. Just in the few hours we were at the border more than a thousand people passed. The exodus has been slowing in the last few days as the conflict continues and more routes out of the country are targeted.
The Red Crescent continues to offer support despite their headquarters in Damascus being overwhelmed by people seeking help. It is impossible to get inside past the hundreds who queue in anticipation. They come to find accommodation, and food. The number of Iraqis arriving everyday continues too, unabated, for however bad things are in Lebanon they also continue to get worse in Iraq.
The Syrian infectious diseases testing centre has hundreds of people queuing outside the locked doors, only opened by a couple of guards to let in a few at a time to avoid an influx. There are almost all Iraqis, all seeking residence and have to have an AIDS test for their application. They have given up hope of returning to the Iraq. I ask one woman when she hopes to go back "Never", she tells me, "there is no Iraq anymore, it is finished".
The news at the Syrian-Lebanese border was no better, with reports of chemical weapons being used in Lebanon. Refugees from Baalbek said that people were burned by chemicals when the bombs hit, symptoms of the phosphorous bombs, also used in Fallujah, Iraq by the Americans. Phosphorous bombs are so chemically potent that, if a victim is hit directly, the phosphorous bombs burn through the bone, perhaps leaving no remains to identify them.
A Red Cross Medic returning to the border for supplies informed his Red Crescent colleagues of the devastation and destruction he had witnessed. There is a general atmosphere of angst towards an avoidable war. "We shouldn’t have to be here" says Dave, a volunteer from England, "this conflict shouldn’t have escalated in this way".
A large problem for the refugees and authorities is the large number of people stranded in ‘no mans land’ between the Syrian and Lebanese border posts. Mostly Palestinians originally they are stranded because they do not have valid passports, only refugee papers, if that. One man tells a volunteer "Lebanese passports cost $300 US, how can I ever afford one?". His monthly salary is $100.
So the number of people squatting continues to grow. And the lights of American owned Dunkin’ Donuts eerily reflecting upon the hundreds of cars with mattresses and pillows on the roofs as makeshift beds.
Unable to rest a family approaches me at 11 pm. The father tells me his two year old daughter is not feeling well and needs help. I find some Paracetamol to give the child and when I return I find her crouched on the road vomiting. Her 5 siblings, including a young baby, are despairing, she’s only two and the whole family is exhausted, tired and dirty. The mother is close to tears. The Red Crescent ambulance is called to take them to a doctor in Syria, but will they be able to stay?
Syrian Red Crescent donations:
ICRC delegationAbou Rummaneh - Rawda squareMasr streetBuilding Al Jerd, 3rd and 4th floorsPO Box 3579 DAMASTel.: (+96 311) 331 04 76Fax: (+96 311) 331 04 41 damas.dam@icrc.org
approximately 26th July
Even at 1.30 in the morning the Red-Crescent volunteers (The Middle Eastern arm of the Red Cross) are in high spirits. Returning from the Syrian-Lebanese border, we had worked for the last 8 hours handing out food, water, and medicine to people fleeing the crises in Lebanon and The Palestinian Territories. The elation came from feeling useful in a useless war; "Syria is the only country doing anything" one volunteer told me.
This is reinforced by the head of the Syrian Red Crescent who said there were struggling for any external support and would be appealing to the International Red Cross to raise awareness and donations. There are people willing to help on the ground here, but there is a limit of supplies.
Syria, one of the poorest countries in the Middle East, has welcomed a huge number of Lebanese since the start of the Israeli offensive, with an estimated 200,000 Lebanese, and Palestinians from Lebanese camps, seeking refuge from their neighbour. Just in the few hours we were at the border more than a thousand people passed. The exodus has been slowing in the last few days as the conflict continues and more routes out of the country are targeted.
The Red Crescent continues to offer support despite their headquarters in Damascus being overwhelmed by people seeking help. It is impossible to get inside past the hundreds who queue in anticipation. They come to find accommodation, and food. The number of Iraqis arriving everyday continues too, unabated, for however bad things are in Lebanon they also continue to get worse in Iraq.
The Syrian infectious diseases testing centre has hundreds of people queuing outside the locked doors, only opened by a couple of guards to let in a few at a time to avoid an influx. There are almost all Iraqis, all seeking residence and have to have an AIDS test for their application. They have given up hope of returning to the Iraq. I ask one woman when she hopes to go back "Never", she tells me, "there is no Iraq anymore, it is finished".
The news at the Syrian-Lebanese border was no better, with reports of chemical weapons being used in Lebanon. Refugees from Baalbek said that people were burned by chemicals when the bombs hit, symptoms of the phosphorous bombs, also used in Fallujah, Iraq by the Americans. Phosphorous bombs are so chemically potent that, if a victim is hit directly, the phosphorous bombs burn through the bone, perhaps leaving no remains to identify them.
A Red Cross Medic returning to the border for supplies informed his Red Crescent colleagues of the devastation and destruction he had witnessed. There is a general atmosphere of angst towards an avoidable war. "We shouldn’t have to be here" says Dave, a volunteer from England, "this conflict shouldn’t have escalated in this way".
A large problem for the refugees and authorities is the large number of people stranded in ‘no mans land’ between the Syrian and Lebanese border posts. Mostly Palestinians originally they are stranded because they do not have valid passports, only refugee papers, if that. One man tells a volunteer "Lebanese passports cost $300 US, how can I ever afford one?". His monthly salary is $100.
So the number of people squatting continues to grow. And the lights of American owned Dunkin’ Donuts eerily reflecting upon the hundreds of cars with mattresses and pillows on the roofs as makeshift beds.
Unable to rest a family approaches me at 11 pm. The father tells me his two year old daughter is not feeling well and needs help. I find some Paracetamol to give the child and when I return I find her crouched on the road vomiting. Her 5 siblings, including a young baby, are despairing, she’s only two and the whole family is exhausted, tired and dirty. The mother is close to tears. The Red Crescent ambulance is called to take them to a doctor in Syria, but will they be able to stay?
Syrian Red Crescent donations:
ICRC delegationAbou Rummaneh - Rawda squareMasr streetBuilding Al Jerd, 3rd and 4th floorsPO Box 3579 DAMASTel.: (+96 311) 331 04 76Fax: (+96 311) 331 04 41 damas.dam@icrc.org
posted by Ingrid @ 3:10 AM
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