“Usually, it is the Free Syrian Army who is responsible for helping
civilians reach the border,” said the farmer. “But they have
already fled from our village. Tank shells were hitting so close to us and
there was no one to help.”
What was once a pleasant hour-long hike across the rolling hills and mountains
that delineate the boundary with northern Lebanon has turned now into a
perilous 20km route that avoids roads riddled with Syrian and Lebanese
military checkpoints, minefields and open ground.
“We waded through muddy fields and walked on winding roads through shrub
land to come here,” said Abu Hassan.
It is becoming ever more difficult to escape. Syrian government troops bombed
a bridge on Tuesday, destroying one of the only routes to the border from
populous Al Qusuayr.
And there is little discrimination between civilian and Free Syrian Army
targets, reported Abu Mohammed an activist from that city helping families
across the border which in places splits villages in two and is marked only
by the thickness of a road.
“I brought the families through the built-up areas. It was too dangerous
to be on exposed territory. There is a four-metre gap on the border between
buildings in Syria and buildings inside Lebanon. Running across this gap,
the army often opens fire. Many of the refugees hide with families in the
nearby Lebanese village of Aarsal.”
For the refugees however their ordeal does not stop in Lebanon.
Some of the stop off points to safety are deep in the heartland of Hizbollah,
fierce supporters of the Syrian regime. The refugees live in continuous fear
of persecution.
Yesterday the Telegraph was taken to a safe house where men, women and
children recently arrived milled in bare rooms with only a thin carpet to
separate them from the cold concrete floor. A stove in the centre emitted a
weak heat, hardly battling against the bitter temperatures outside.
Many were too frightened to even show their faces. Others simply cried rather
than talk.
One man who had recently made the journey told the Telegraph that 150 families
were waiting on the Syrian side of the border for safe passage. But the
Lebanese army was arresting those who tried while the Syrian Army was firing
on others.
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