Syria, a painful wound that requires solidarity and patience

If there is an issue that in all latitudes has the power of rupture and division, it is today that of migrants and refugees. It separates deeply, and creates conflicts between those who are open to acceptance and the challenge of integration, and those who believe that the only solution is the closure of ports and borders, rejection.

But if there is one place in the world where this problem is intertwined with complex geopolitical dynamics, to the point of becoming the battleground of warring powers, it is the Middle East. In particular, the case of Syrians who have been living outside their homeland for years is a cry to which the world seems to have become accustomed. Some 6 million Syrians have been displaced in the country itself, while 5.6 million are currently registered as refugees with UNHCR, the UN agency for this huge group of people. The majority are in Turkey, which is home to 3.6 million, to which must be added around one million refugees in Lebanon, some 700,000 in Jordan and 250,000 in Iraq, according to the agency.

The international press, which tries to avoid partisan readings, periodically looks at the subject with emblematic titles that help to delineate the scope and impact of this prolonged presence of unwanted guests over the years.

Description of the crisis

In recent months, The Economist has addressed the drama of with these headlines: "Syrian refugees may become the new Palestinians.", "Syrian refugees, a pawn on the Syrian chessboard." o "The long road home.". All the articles insisted that voluntary returns are simple to talk about, but complicated to put into practice due to a number of obstacles that they do not fail to mention.
Even the New York Times has again been forceful on the migration issue at the end of 2018, and countries in the European Union joined in its qualifier: "It's an act of murder."They stated to refer to the management of sovereign governments in the Mediterranean flows.

The situation of Syrians abroad was also discussed at the economic and social summit of Arab countries held in Beirut in mid-January this year. The Lebanese and regional press highlighted the differences between the countries' representatives. Contrary to Lebanese expectations, it was not possible to adopt a strong common position on the return of Syrian refugees to their homes, but only a general reference was made to Arab countries to address the issue responsibly, and an appeal "the international community to redouble its efforts". in order to allow everyone to return to their homes and villages.

1.5 million Syrians in Lebanon

The Lebanese government expected more. In the Arab media one can often read that, according to the Lebanese executive, the 1.5 million Syrians present in Lebanon must be helped to return home, a larger number than the UNHCR statistics, which is equivalent to one third of the Lebanese population.

The Patriarch of the Maronites, Cardinal Bechara Boutros Raï, has referred to this issue: "The economic, social, cultural and political consequences are disastrous. It was right to respond in an emergency, but this situation continues at the expense of the Lebanese and Lebanon."he said during an official visit to France in 2018, going so far as to speak of the risk of "demographic imbalance" and of the "change of identity", which they corroborate in their own country with general indifference: "Sometimes we feel a bit foreign in our own country.".

Already in 2013, the year in which Pope Francis invited to a world peace vigil to stop a threat from the United States, the situation of Syrians in Lebanon was described by analysts as follows "bombe àretardement"or delayed bomb, which no one has yet de-activated, by the way.
At the end of December, the Lebanese newspaper L'Orient-LeJour published the news of the voluntary return of about a thousand Syrians. It had prepared the ground by publishing background information on the fatigue of diplomacy in the management of the Syrian "repatriation"The current regime is divided between those who maintain that the current regime has no intention of recovering the exiles, and those who allege evidence to the contrary.

Are 1,000 repatriations out of 1.5 million Syrians in Lebanon too many or too few? For L'Orient-LeJour it was especially important to detail the list: 70 refugees left Ersal, a locality of Békaa on the Syrian border; 60 left Tyre, 55 were from Nabatiyé, 27 from Saïda, others from Tripoli and Abboudiyé, etc., a list that seemed almost a consolation for the average Lebanese (even today, the most supportive is exhausted).

Poor, hungry, homeless...

At the same time, the annual study conducted by the three UN agencies (UNHCR, UNICEF and WFP, World Food Programme) on the situation of Syrian refugees in the land of cedars was presented in Beirut: despite improvements in some areas due to the humanitarian response, the situation of refugees remains precarious, and this is a lapidary statement.
The percentages presented were disastrous: 69 % of Syrian refugee families are below the poverty line; and more than 51 % live on less than $2.90 a day, the survival threshold. How do they manage? Either they find cheap food, or they don't eat and send the children to work.
88 % of Syrian refugees are in debt: in 2018 the average was a debt of $800, in 2018 over $1,000. The rate of early marriages is growing and if, on the one hand, children aged 6-14 are increasing, 80 % of 15-17 year olds are out of school.
Added to this are the problems associated with obtaining residency and birth certificates: in 2018, 79 % of Syrian children born in Lebanon were not registered. Finally, the number of families living in non-permanent facilities is growing: in 2017 they were 26 %, in 2018 they reached 34 %.
Poor, indebted, hungry, homeless and jobless. It is this uncertainty of their fate that fuels the ticking of the delayed pump. It may or may not be heard, but it affects everyone.

Why don't they come back?
We are now talking about an almost completely pacified Syria, again under the control of President Assad. And why don't they return? The reasons of the refugees are different: they fear, once again, reprisals, being arrested as deserters; they have no place to return to the destroyed villages, no job waiting for them. Whoever flew over the sea or the ocean, or went up towards northern Europe, why should he leave the situation of "security" achieved to return to the uncertainty of the Middle East? President Assad has been defending for months that Syrians, especially businessmen, are welcome if they return, but there are those who accuse him of using the reconstruction phase to settle outstanding scores and favor those who have been loyal to his government. Moreover, as The Economist reported last summer, Assad himself commented: "Syria has gained a safer and more homogeneous society."referring to the new composition of the population.

How does this year look like?

For UNHCR, if 37,000 Syrians returned in 2018, they could reach 250,000 in 2019. A prediction that will be valid if the main obstacles cease to exist: obtaining documents and certificates of ownership of land and houses, the history of the amnesty announced for those who have abandoned military service, but also the security of mined rural areas, and the recognition of the one million small Syrians born abroad.

Meanwhile, the UN agency has asked donors for 5.5 billion in support to neighboring countries to provide medical care, food, education and psychosocial support to refugees, help in the reconstruction of houses, bridges, roads, factories and power plants in the shadow of the great ambition of Russia and China, two powers interested in taking over this promising market. Nor does the EU want to be left out of the humanitarian and reconstruction game, in view of its geopolitical positioning.

When trying to calculate the value of the material reconstruction, we are talking about 300 billion dollars, which escapes the exorbitant cost of rebuilding a social fabric worn out by 8 years of war. Every link, every network, every relationship between the different communities that maintained the strange balance of Syrian society has failed.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, was last summer in Duma, the main city of Eastern Guta, 10 kilometers from the capital, Damascus. During years of battle, the area was completely devastated, culminating in an intense battle when the government retook control of the city.

Thousands of families had to flee the city; 125,000 people now live in the area, compared to a population of around 300,000 before the crisis. Despite the collapsed buildings and piles of rubble, some of the displaced are returning to rebuild their homes and lives. However, with very few homes still standing, and few basic services, Grandi warned that the humanitarian needs of the population remained immense.
"In the midst of the ruins, there are children who need to go to school, who need to be fed, who need to be clothed."he added. "What we must do is help the people, beyond politics; as we all know, the political situation in this conflict is already quite complex. For the moment, the basic needs are the ones that must be urgently addressed.".

A capillary and patient performance

On the other hand, who is away from home and has raised children who have never seen his country, can he trust that his neighbor will no longer turn against him? Even those who stayed in their homeland, and spent years awake in their sleep, or suffered every day with the roar of mortars, those who lost friends, brothers, fathers in the war, who have been scarred in the body by deep wounds, will they all be able to start again?

A painful wound crosses these lands and no external multimillionaire investment can suture it because it is too pro- found. Only a new work starting from the most basic, a patient capillary action from the school, from the education of the youngest, can offer some possibility. But in the long, very long term.