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 The new arrivals add to the more than 13,000 people that the U.N.
says have found shelter in Lebanon since the Syrian government
offensive in the rugged Qalamoun region north of Damascus began last
Friday. The influx has left aid agencies scrambling to provide
enough shelter for the refugees.
Lebanese authorities have granted aid groups permission to build a
temporary transit camp for Syrians for the first time since the
uprising began three years ago, said Lisa Abou Khaled, an official
with the U.N. refugee agency. She said the U.N. agency put up 21
tents overnight, and will set up an additional 29 by the end of
Thursday.
"We're just doing it as an emergency response," she said. "We've
always had a number of tents in stock."
Lebanon, which has taken in an estimated 1.4 million Syrian
refugees, has been reluctant to build camps to house Syrians,
fearing they will stay permanently. Instead, local communities have
taken in many refugees, while others have been left to fend for
themselves.
Abou Khaled said that by Wednesday evening, the number of refugees
who have arrived in the Lebanese border town of Arsal since last
Friday stood at 13,000. She said another 500 families, each on
average numbering about six people, arrived overnight.
Also Thursday, the international aid agency Oxfam released a report
that highlighted the challenges Syrian refugees face in Lebanon,
particularly with mounting debts that are pushing entire families
into a cycle of grinding poverty.
The group said refugee families in Lebanon are spending more than
twice their monthly average income of $250. It added that many
families have exhausted their savings and have resorted to borrowing
money as the job market in Lebanon has dried up.
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It also said many Syrian children are not going to school because
their parents can't afford the additional expenses. Oxfam based its
conclusions on a survey of 1,500 people conducted last month.
Syrian government troops launched their long-anticipated offensive
in the Qalamoun hills last week in a bid to cut cross-border rebel
supply lines and secure the main north-south highway that runs
through the region.
On Tuesday, Syrian forces captured the town of Qara, and activists
say their next target is likely to be the nearby larger town of
Yabroud, a major smuggling hub for rebels.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group
reported fighting Thursday between rebels and government troops in
the towns of Nabak and Deir Attiyeh, which are located along the
highway between Qara and Yabroud.
The Observatory said the rebel forces were led by fighters from two
al-Qaida-linked groups, Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State in
Iraq and the Levant.
The Observatory and the Syrian state news agency SANA also reported
that a mortar attack on al-Haj Atef Square in the central city of
Homs killed at least three people and wounded 25 others.
[Associated
Press; RYAN LUCAS]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
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