DAMASCUS: Badr Honainy, a Syrian-Egyptian journalist based in Damascus, had spent days preparing for a job interview after being shortlisted for a sports editor job at the BBC.
But after waiting for hours at an official Syria-Lebanon border crossing, he was turned back without an explanation.
“This was a great opportunity for me,” said the disappointed 24-year-old.
As sanctions on Syria tighten, the only reprieve for its residents seems to be Lebanon. Attending embassy interviews, holding family reunions, sitting for international tests, joining training programs, and much more can only be done in Beirut.
However, with more than 1.5 million Syrian refugees flooding its borders since the civil war erupted in Syria in 2011, Lebanon has struggled to control the influx of refugees.
“I provided all the necessary documents and I have a journalist pass, an Egyptian passport, and a residency permit, yet I was treated badly by a few border officers and was not even given a chance to ask the smallest question,” said Honainy.
He was transferred to a security office but denied entry after waiting for hours.
“They refused to listen or provide me with alternative solutions,” he said.
“At the Masnaa Border Crossing, you notice that those who seem poverty-stricken are less likely to receive an entry permit because they seem very likely to stay in Lebanon as refugees,” according to a source who lives in Damascus and regularly visits Beirut.
People in fancy cars and elegant clothes are more likely to enter without complications, he said, “but sometimes even these are not lucky enough to enter in time for conducting their business.”
“Some 30 percent of the people in Lebanon at the moment are Syrian refugees, giving Lebanon one of the highest per capita refugee (populations) in the world,” Dr. David Romano, professor of Middle East politics at Missouri State University, told Arab News.
“Among Lebanese voters, who have lost patience with such a burden, restrictive policies toward the entry of Syrians seem like a popular option for the government.”
Some Lebanese officials also fear the entry of former Daesh fighters looking to escape Syria, he said.
“The casualties of this sort of Lebanese reaction, unfortunately, include average Syrians who only need to go to Lebanon for day trips to buy things and get things done that they cannot do in Syria, such as banking, getting visas and sitting for exams like the GRE (Graduate Record Examinations).”
Last month, Lebanese General Security announced plans to implement new controls to further restrict the entry of Syrians into Lebanese territory through the Masnaa Border Crossing, a land-based crossing linking the customs checkpoints of Masnaa in Lebanon and Jdeidat Yabous in Syria. The date on which the new restrictions take effect was not announced.
The new regulations classify Syrians’ entry into six categories, each requiring specific documents and are given a specific type of residence or entry permit.
Sami Jamal, 33, a Syrian living in Damascus who travels regularly to Lebanon, said: “The people of Syria are largely helping the Lebanese economy, be it through investments or tourism, yet Lebanon wouldn’t cease to seek creative ways to restrict our entry.”
Alia A, 31, travels to Beirut every two months to see her fiancé, who lives in the UAE.
For her tourist visa she needs to carry $1,000 and book a hotel room in Beirut in advance.
“Now I’ll have to carry $2,000 for the same trip and I don’t feel comfortable carrying all this cash,” she told Arab News.
“I cannot blame Lebanon,” Anas, 21, a computer engineering student at Damascus University, said. “Many of my friends who could not be exempted from the compulsory military service fled to Lebanon without plans. I cannot imagine how many people a country as small as Lebanon can accommodate.”
Armand Cucciniello III, a former American diplomat and adviser to the US military, told Arab News, said: “Lebanon is a frontline state in the war in Syria, so it’s natural that people are flocking to the border,”
“But the country is very small and lacks an effective government and resources—all the reasons that may be contributing to the pushback against more refugees.”
Cucciniello believes identity could also be at play here. “Most Syrians coming to Lebanon are reportedly Sunni, whereas the majority of Lebanon are Shiite or Christian,” he explained, “so any possible change in the country’s already troubled demographic could be a source of concern and recalcitrance on the part of border and immigration authorities.”
He pointed out that Lebanon took in hundreds of thousands of Palestinian “temporary” refugees after 1948, who eventually became militarized and played a role in the civil war that ravaged the country in the 1980s.
“The country does not have a positive collective memory, if you will, of refugees, which could be contributing to its reluctance to let in more,” he concluded.
Earlier this year, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Lebanon, Christophe Martin, said “the majority of Syrian refugees in Lebanon want to return home.”
In 2017, the UN said that “the vast majority of the roughly one million Syrian refugees registered in Lebanon now find themselves impoverished and in debt, with levels of hardship increasing each year.”
“Lebanon lacks good infrastructure,” Cucciniello said, “and we’ve seen Syrian refugees set up camp over the years in areas where the local population, too, is struggling.”
Syrians stifled by Lebanon’s new entry restrictions
Syrians stifled by Lebanon’s new entry restrictions
Israeli military hits Hamas member in southern Syria
- Israel and Syria have recently engaged in direct talks to calm tensions
CAIRO: The Israeli military said on Sunday that it struck a member of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in southern Syria’s Mazraat Beit Jin, days after Israel carried out its first airstrikes in the country in nearly a month.
Hamas did not immediately comment on the strike.
Israel said on Tuesday it hit weapons belonging to the government in retaliation for the firing of two projectiles toward Israel for the first time under the country’s new leadership. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz held Syria’s President Ahmed Al-Sharaa accountable.
Damascus in response said reports of the shelling were unverified, reiterating that Syria does not pose a threat to any regional party.
A little known group named “Martyr Muhammad Deif Brigades,” an apparent reference to Hamas’ military leader who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024, reportedly claimed responsibility for the shelling. Reuters, however, could not independently verify the claim.
Israel and Syria have recently engaged in direct talks to calm tensions, marking a significant development in ties between states that have been on opposite sides of conflict in the Middle East for decade.
Why were so many Thai farmers among the hostages held by Hamas?
- Before the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, Israel had 30,000 Thai laborers, primarily working on farms
- 31 Thais were taken hostages. Thailand’s foreign ministry has said 46 Thais have been killed during the war
BANGKOK: Israel says it has retrieved the body of a 35-year-old Thai hostage who was abducted into Gaza during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war.
Nattapong Pinta was among 31 Thais taken by the Hamas militant group. Thailand’s foreign ministry in a statement Saturday confirmed that Pinta, the last Thai hostage in Gaza, was confirmed dead. It said the bodies of two others have yet to be retrieved.
The ministry has said 46 Thais have been killed during the war. Thais were the largest group of foreigners held captive by Hamas. They were among tens of thousands of Thai workers in Israel. Here’s a look at what they were doing.
Why are there so many Thais in Israel?
Israel once relied heavily on Palestinian workers, but it started bringing in large numbers of migrant workers after the 1987-93 Palestinian revolt, known as the first Intifada.
Most came from Thailand, and Thais remain the largest group of foreign agricultural laborers in Israel today, earning considerably more than they can at home.
Thailand and Israel implemented a bilateral agreement a decade ago to ease the way for workers in the agriculture sector.
Israel has come under criticism for the conditions under which the Thai farm laborers work. A Human Rights Watch report in 2015 said they often were housed in makeshift and inadequate accommodation and “were paid salaries significantly below the legal minimum wage, forced to work long hours in excess of the legal maximum, subjected to unsafe working conditions and denied their right to change employers.”
A watchdog group found more recently that most were still paid below the legal minimum wage.
How many Thai nationals work in Israel?
There were about 30,000 Thai workers, primarily working on farms, in Israel prior to the attack by Hamas.
In the wake of the attack, some 7,000 returned home, primarily on government evacuation flights, but higher wages than those available at home have continued to attract new arrivals.
The Thai ambassador to Israel, Pannabha Chandraramya, recently said there are now more than 38,000 Thai workers in the country.
What happened after some left?
Faced with a labor shortage in the wake of the exodus, Israel’s Agriculture Ministry announced incentives to try to attract foreign workers back to evacuated areas.
Among other things, it offered to extend work visas and to pay bonuses of about $500 a month.
Thailand’s Labor Ministry granted 3,966 Thai workers permission to work in Israel in 2024, keeping Israel in the top four destinations for Thais working abroad last year.
Thai migrant workers generally come from poorer regions of the country, especially the northeast, and even before the bonuses, the jobs in Israel paid many times what they could make at home.
Israel backs an anti-Hamas armed group known for looting aid in Gaza. Here’s what we know
IJERUSALEM: Israel is supporting armed groups of Palestinians in Gaza in what it says is a move to counter Hamas. But officials from the UN and aid organizations say the military is allowing them to loot food and other supplies from their trucks.
One self-styled militia, which calls itself the Popular Forces, led by Yasser Abu Shabab, says it is guarding newly created, Israeli-backed food distribution centers in southern Gaza. Aid workers say it has a long history of looting UN trucks.
Gaza’s armed groups have ties to powerful clans or extended families and often operate as criminal gangs. Aid workers allege Israel’s backing of the groups is part of a wider effort to control all aid operations in the strip.
Israel denies allowing looters to operate in areas it controls.
Here’s what we know about anti-Hamas armed groups in Gaza:
Who are these groups?
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a social media video Thursday that Israel had “activated” clans in Gaza to oppose Hamas.
He didn’t elaborate how Israel is supporting them or what role Israel wants them to play. Netanyahu’s comments were in response to a political opponent accusing him of arming “crime families” in Gaza.
Clans, tribes and extended families have strong influence in Gaza, where their leaders often help mediate disputes. Some have long been armed to protect their group’s interests, and some have morphed into gangs involved in smuggling drugs or running protection rackets.
After seizing power in 2007, Hamas clamped down on Gaza’s gangs — sometimes with brute force and sometimes by steering perks their way.
But with Hamas’ weakening power after 20 months of war with Israel, gangs have regained freedom to act. The leadership of a number of clans — including the clan from which the Abu Shabab group’s members hail — have issued statements denouncing looting and cooperation with Israel.
A self-proclaimed ‘nationalist force’
Besides the Abu Shabab group, it is not known how many armed groups Israel is supporting.
The Abu Shabab group went public in early May, declaring itself a “nationalist force.” It said it was protecting aid, including around the food distribution hubs run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a mainly American private contractor that Israel intends to replace the UN-led aid network. Aid workers and Palestinians who know the group estimate it has several hundred fighters.
The Abu Shabab group’s media office told The Associated Press it was collaborating with GHF “to ensure that the food and medicine reaches its beneficiaries.” It said it was not involved in distribution, but that its fighters secured the surroundings of distribution centers run by GHF inside military-controlled zones in the Rafah area.
A spokesperson with GHF said it had “no collaboration” with Abu Shabab.
“We do have local Palestinian workers we are very proud of, but none is armed, and they do not belong to Abu Shabab’s organization,” the spokesperson said, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with the group’s rules.
Before the war, Yasser Abu Shabab was involved in smuggling cigarettes and drugs from Egypt and Israel into Gaza through crossings and tunnels, according to two members of his extended family, one of whom was once part of his group. Hamas arrested Abu Shabab but freed him from prison along with most other inmates when the war began in October 2023, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Abu Shabab’s media office said he was summoned by police before the war but wasn’t officially accused or tried. It also said claims the group was involved in attacking aid trucks were “exaggerated,” saying its fighters “took the minimum amount of food and water necessary.”
Aid workers say it is notorious for looting
The head of the association in Gaza that provides trucks and drivers for aid groups said their members’ vehicles have been attacked many times by Abu Shabab’s fighters.
Nahed Sheheiber said the group has been active in Israeli-controlled eastern parts of Rafah and Khan Younis, targeting trucks as they enter Gaza from the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel. Troops nearby “did nothing” to stop attacks, he said.
Sheheiber said that when Hamas policemen have tried to confront gangs or guard truck convoys, they were attacked by Israeli troops.
One driver, Issam Abu Awda, told the AP he was attacked by Abu Shabab fighters last July. The fighters stopped his truck, blindfolded and handcuffed him and his assistant, then loaded the supplies off the vehicle, he said. Abu Awda said nearby Israeli troops didn’t intervene.
These kinds of attacks are still happening and highlight “a disturbing pattern,” according to Jonathan Whittall, from the UN humanitarian coordinator, OCHA.
“Those who have blocked and violently ransacked aid trucks seem to have been protected” by Israeli forces, said Whittall, head of OCHA’s office for the occupied Palestinian territories. And, he added, they have now become the “protectors of the goods being distributed through Israel’s new militarized hubs,” referring to the GHF-run sites.
The Israeli military did not reply when asked for comment on allegations it has allowed armed groups to loot trucks. But the Israeli prime minister’s office called the accusations “fake news,” saying, “Israel didn’t allow looters to operate in Israeli controlled areas.”
Israel often accuses Hamas of stealing from trucks.
What does all this have to do with aid?
Muhammad Shehada, a political analyst from Gaza who is a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said he doesn’t believe Israel’s support for armed groups is aimed at directly fighting Hamas. So far there has been no attempt to deploy the groups against the militants.
Instead, he said, Israel is using the gangs and the looting to present GHF “as the only alternative to provide food to Palestinians,” since its supplies get in while the UN’s don’t.
Israel wants the GHF to replace the UN-led aid system because it claims Hamas has been siphoning off large amounts of supplies. The UN denies that significant amounts have been taken by Hamas. Israel has also said it aims to move all Palestinians in Gaza to a “sterile zone” in the south, around the food hubs, while it fights Hamas elsewhere.
The UN and aid groups have rejected that as using food as a tool for forced displacement. The Abu Shabab group has issued videos online urging Palestinians to move to tent camps in Rafah.
Israel barred all food and other supplies from entering Gaza for 2 ½ months , pending the start of GHF – a blockade that has brought the population to the brink of famine. GHF started distributing food boxes on May 26 at three hubs guarded by private contractors inside Israeli military zones.
Israel has let in some trucks of aid for the UN to distribute. But the UN says it has been able to get little of it into the hands of Palestinians because of Israeli military restrictions, including requiring its trucks to use roads where looters are known to operate.
“It’s Israel’s way of telling the UN, if you want to try to bring aid into Gaza, good luck with this,” said Shehada. “We will force you to go through a road where everything you brought will be looted.”
US-backed Gaza group suspends aid for a day over threats, Hamas vows to protect UN aid
- The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said later on Saturday that GHF operation has "utterly failed on all levels" and that Hamas was ready to help secure aid deliveries by a separate long-running U.N-led humanitarian operation
JERUSALEM/CAIRO: A controversial humanitarian organization backed by the United States and Israel did not distribute any food aid on Saturday, accusing Hamas of making threats that "made it impossible" to operate in the enclave, which the Palestinian militants denied.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which uses private U.S. security and logistics firms to operate, said it was adapting operations to overcome the unspecified threats. It later said in a Facebook post that two sites would reopen on Sunday.
A Hamas official told Reuters he had no knowledge of such "alleged threats."
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said later on Saturday that GHF operation has "utterly failed on all levels" and that Hamas was ready to help secure aid deliveries by a separate long-running U.N-led humanitarian operation. Hamas also called on all Palestinians to protect humanitarian convoys.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Hamas source says to deploy snipers to protect U.N. aid convoys
• US-backed aid group says to resume distribution on Sunday
• Nattapong Pinta among 251 abducted by Hamas in October 2023
• 55 Palestinians killed in latest Israeli airstrikes -Gaza medics
Israel and the United States have accused Hamas of stealing aid from the U.N.-led operations, which the militants deny.
A Hamas source said the group's armed wing would deploy some snipers from Sunday near routes used by the U.N.-led aid operation to prevent armed gangs looting food shipments. The U.N. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israel allowed limited U.N.-led operations to resume on May 19 after an 11-week blockade in the enclave of 2.3 million people, where experts have warned a famine looms. The U.N. has described the aid allowed into Gaza as "drop in the ocean."
Israel and the U.S. are urging the U.N. to work through the GHF, but the U.N. has refused, questioning its neutrality and accusing the distribution model of militarizing aid and forcing displacement. The GHF began operations in Gaza on May 26 and said on Friday so far it has distributed nearly 9 million meals.
While the GHF has said there have been no incidents at its so-called secure distribution sites, Palestinians seeking aid have described disorder and access routes to the sites have been beset by chaos and deadly violence.
Dozens of Palestinians were killed near GHF sites between Sunday and Tuesday, Gaza health authorities said. Israel has said it is investigating the Monday and Tuesday incidents, but said it was not to blame for Sunday's violence.
HOSPITAL FUEL LOW
The GHF did not give out aid on Wednesday as it pressed Israel to boost civilian safety beyond its sites, then on Friday it paused some aid distribution "due to excessive crowding."
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to the U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
Israel makes the U.N. offload aid on the Palestinian side of the crossing, where it then has to be picked by the U.N. and aid groups in Gaza. The U.N. has accused Israel of regularly denying access requests and complained that its aid convoys have been looted by unidentified armed men and hungry civilians.
Israel has in recent weeks expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as U.S., Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered. Medics in Gaza said 55 people were killed in Israeli strikes across the enclave on Saturday.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said on Saturday that Gaza's hospitals only had fuel for three more days and that Israel was denying access for international relief agencies to areas where fuel storages designated for hospitals are located.
There was no immediate response from the Israeli military or COGAT, the Israeli defence agency that coordinates humanitarian matters with the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it had uncovered "an underground tunnel route, including a command and control center from which senior Hamas commanders" operated beneath the European Hospital compound in southern Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led militants took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, Israel's single deadliest day.
Israel's military campaign has since killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the coastal enclave.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday the Israeli military had retrieved the body of a Thai agricultural worker held in Gaza since the October 2023 attack. Nattapong Pinta's body was held by the Mujahedeen Brigades militant group, and recovered from Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said.
Thousands protest in Tel Aviv for release of Gaza hostages
- The crowd gathered at the so-called Hostages Square chanting “The people choose the hostages!“
- Earlier on Saturday, Hamas released a photograph of one of the remaining hostages, Matan Zangauker, appearing to be in poor health
TEL AVIV: Thousands of people demonstrated Saturday night in Tel Aviv to demand the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip and a ceasefire after 20 months of war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
The crowd gathered at the so-called Hostages Square chanting “The people choose the hostages!” and demanding “a comprehensive deal” for their return, according to a statement from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
Earlier on Saturday, Hamas released a photograph of one of the remaining hostages, Matan Zangauker, appearing to be in poor health, with a warning that he would not survive.
His mother, Einav Zangauker, speaking at the protest in Tel Aviv, said “I can no longer bear this nightmare. The angel of death, Netanyahu, continues to sacrifice the hostages,” AFPTV footage showed, referring to the Israeli prime minister.
Noam Katz, the daughter of hostage Lior Rudaeff, who has been declared dead but whose body is still in the Gaza Strip, called for an immediate halt to the fighting.
“Do not send more soldiers to risk their lives to bring back our fathers. Bring them back through an agreement. Stop the war!” she declared to the crowd at the square, the Families Forum said.
On Friday, the Israeli army announced the death of four soldiers in the Gaza Strip and said it lacked 10,000 troops to meet its needs in the Palestinian territory.
Negotiations aimed at ending the fighting, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States have remained unsuccessful so far.
Tal Kupershtein, father of Bar Kupershtein, who was abducted at the age of 21, demanded that his son “come home now!“
“I call on the prime minister to accept an agreement for the return of all the hostages.”
Of the 251 people abducted on October 7, 2023, 55 are still held in the Gaza Strip, at least 31 of whom are dead, according to Israeli authorities.
