Rena Netjes and Sophie Fullerton report:

Israel’s escalating war in Lebanon has displaced more than 1.2 million people across the country in recent weeks. Those displaced are not only Lebanese civilians but also an estimated 250,000 Syrian refugees who have fled back into neighboring Syria since Israel’s bombing campaign began last month. Some 1.5 million Syrian refugees living precariously in Lebanon for more than a decade, after fleeing civil war in their own country, have faced the threat of detention and deportation in recent years amid a growing backlash against refugees.

“I paid to escape the shelling in Lebanon to reach my village, which is also under bombardment by Assad’s army,” said one Syrian refugee interviewed by Al Jazeera after returning to his village in Idlib, in northwest Syria. As another Syrian refugee who had to flee Lebanon for Syria told scholar Jasmin Lilian Diad, who directs the Institute for Migration Studies at the Lebanese American University: “No, I am not returning. I am rather leaving one foot in Lebanon and one in Syria. Syria is in no way a safe place. As men, we are at risk of arrest and forced conscription.”

According to Etana, a Syrian research and policy center based in Amman, “two different realities have emerged at the Syria-Lebanon border: while Lebanese nationals cross without ID checks or fees, Syrians must present IDs and face entry costs. The disparity also extends to aid and services.” [Continue reading…]