BEIRUT, Lebanon - Syrian Kurds displaced in Lebanon are once again caught in the flames of war with intensifying Israeli bombardments on the country, compelling tens of thousands to flee.
“We were in southern Lebanon for five days during the war; we did not have money to leave. A charity organization helped us escape,” Khalida Kotu, a Kurdish woman from the town of Jindires near Afrin in northern Syria, told Rudaw.
About a decade ago, Kotu, four of her children, and her sister were displaced to Lebanon from Syria.
“It was scary; I saw the war with my eyes; nothing happened to us, but it was scary. My friends were injured,” said 16-year-old Dabistan Mustafa.
Many Syrian Kurds, especially from Afrin, were displaced in 2018 when the Turkish army and Turkey-backed armed groups took control of the area, removing Kurdish forces after two months of intense fighting.
In July, Mustafa Shekho, a Kurdish activist in southern Lebanon, told Rudaw that over 100,000 Kurds from Afrin relocated to south Lebanon following the conflict.
“Most of them are working in the farmlands there [southern Lebanon],” Shekho said.
Kotu, a 43-year-old single mother, worked on the farms in southern Lebanon to provide for her family, but the war disrupted her living. “We moved here [Beirut] due to the war. But we are in a very bad situation here,” she said.
“My husband is not with us. He went back to Syria nine years ago. He is missing. We do not know whether he is alive or dead,” Kotu said, adding that the family can no longer afford the rising rent and living costs.
“We do not have money to return to Syria. Rent is expensive here. We do not have electricity or hot water. We have to take cold showers,” she said, lamenting the family’s inability to afford basic daily sustenance needs. “If we are not given food, we have nothing to eat.”
Israel’s conflict with Lebanon intensified after nearly a year of war in the Gaza Strip to remove pro-Iran Hezbollah fighters from southern Lebanon and allow tens of thousands of Israelis displaced from the north by the Lebanese group’s constant rocket and drone strikes to return safely to their homes.
