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The
54-year-old father of three cleans shops at a mall in exchange
for rent-free accommodation in a cramped room in the town of
Daraya, southeast of Beirut. His daughters sometimes go into the
street to sell tissues to help keep the family fed.
An amputee who lost a leg while working at a stone factory in
2014, Ahmad clings to the hope of being resettled in the West,
saying he can never return to the home he fled in Syria eight
years ago as fighting raged around it.
"I have become a burden on my daughters," said Ahmad, sitting on
a mattress on the floor at his home, paint peeling from the
walls and the smell of sewage hanging in the air.
"I weep every day, I am crushed. It's a life of misery."
Nearly a decade since Syria's war began, neighbouring Lebanon
still hosts some 1 million registered Syrian refugees for whom
life has only become more difficult since an economic crisis
erupted last year.
Poverty among Syrian refugees in Lebanon is soaring, reflecting
deepening hardship among the entire population.
The proportion of refugees below the extreme poverty line of
less than $3 a day climbed to 88% this year from 55% last year,
UNHCR said.
The situation was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Daily
labour upon which many refugees depended has dried up.
Ahmad's nephew, who once helped out with financial support, went
back to Syria this year as he could no longer find work.
Ahmad says he cannot follow him, citing security fears. He wants
to go to Canada or Germany. He says assistance he once received
from aid agencies dried up around three years ago.
The situation facing refugees in Lebanon has been deteriorating
steadily since 2013-14 as Lebanon's troubles began to hit them
and any savings they brought with them were used up, UNHCR
representative in Lebanon Mireille Girard said.
But now, almost all refugees are below the survival line, she
said. "This is dramatic, this is very serious."
"People have the impression that the future is closing down on
them and don't see light at end of tunnel," Girard said.
"The situation is very serious and at this moment we really need
everyone to mobilise ... toward supporting the most vulnerable
as much as possible."
(Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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