BEIRUT: The number of Syrian refugees who died after a storm struck while they were attempting to cross the Lebanese-Syrian border has risen to 15, a security source told The Daily Star.
Two additional bodies were found in the mountainous terrain dividing the two countries near the Bekaa town of Suweiri, after 13 Syrian refugees had been reported dead Friday.
Suweiri Mayor Hussein Ali Amer told The Daily Star Saturday that the death toll was in fact 14 rather than 15. He noted that one of the bodies found Saturday was that of a woman.
Amer said that the Army was continuing its search for bodies in the high-altitude areas on the outskirts of the town, adding that it was likely that more bodies would be found.
The bodies previously discovered by the Lebanese Army and Civil Defense included those of three men, two kids and eight women. The deaths all appeared to have been a result of plunging overnight temperatures and heavy snowfall.
“The victims were trying to cross an arduous and rugged passage in freezing temperatures,” a U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) statement said Friday. “Others in the group, including a pregnant woman, were discovered in time and assisted by nearby residents and the Lebanese Armed Forces and Civil Defense to reach hospitals before they froze to death.”
UNHCR said it was “distraught” over the deaths and called on countries to allow safe passage and entry to those in need of protection.
In 2015, the Lebanese government barred the UNHCR from registering Syrian refugees and placed additional restrictions on them entering the country without guarantors, work visas or for transit. (Daily Star)
Comment:
Crimes by the Lebanese authority in collusion with the Assad regime continues upon Syrian refugees since the ongoing closure of treacherous nation state borders from 2015 onwards! Such closures deny sanctuary to desperate women and children fleeing Assad’s evil and cowardly bombing campaigns forcing them to tread alternative deadly mountainous routes that ultimately claimed the lives of 9 women, 2 children and 3 men near the Bekka town of Suweiri on Friday and Saturday. Where is the humanity of such a regime whose crimes are revealed for all to witness?! Upsetting images circulating on social media of 2 women and a child’s frozen bodies laying on the snow depicts in black and white the cruel and criminal consequences of Lebanon’s discriminatory immigration policy! An inhumane policy that aims to shut out Syrian refugees like a foreigner to Islamic lands their forefathers once lived on for centuries. However, despite these facts the Lebanese authorities since 2015 have determined new “Standards” as to who can access Lebanon including those who come for the purpose of “tourism, or on a working visit, or for being the owner of the property, or coming for study, or medical treatment, or to review a foreign embassy, or under a prior commitment from a Lebanese citizen of responsibility.” Therefore, this criminal immigration policy not only aids the Assad regime by trapping fleeing refugees at treacherous mountainous borders but it also maintains a subservience to these artificial nation state borders drawn up by the British and the French following the destruction of the Uthmani Khilafah in 1924.
The domestic political context of Lebanon and its Confessional system of governance that came into existence in 1943 after the destruction of the Uthmani Khilafah State by the French that guaranteed the political domination of its Christian allies by unequally distributing political power amongst the Maronite Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Druze and “Shia-Sunni” Muslims with a ratio of 6:5 in favour of Christians is also being protected at all costs. The existence of 1 million registered Syrian refugees from a total of 2.2 Million Syrian refugees living amongst the 6 million Lebanese population is therefore seen as politically destabilising for the Confessional system and its surrounding corrupt politics thus leading to cruel immigration restrictions on Syrian refugees.
It is therefore an obligation for Muslims to aid their distressed brothers and sisters from Syria by not closing these treacherous nation state borders that are only designed to cause misery and suffering but instead working to remove them with the re-establishment of the one unitary Khilafah State. So let us intensify our efforts to establish the System of Allah سبحانه وتعالى once again upon this earth that is the only true path to save our oppressed Ummah in Syria and across the world from their plight. It is this state alone, built purely upon Islam that will mobilise its soldiers without hesitation or delay to liberate the Muslims from their oppressors, and care for them with the affection that a father cares for his child – for Islam accepts nothing less of a ruler and leadership. «إِنَّمَا الْإِمَامُ جُنَّةٌ يُقَاتَلُ مِنْ وَرَائِهِ وَيُتَّقَى بِهِ» “Indeed the Imam (Khaleefah) is a shield from behind whom (one) would fight and one would protect oneself.”
For Allah (swt) will ask also Muslims about their treatment towards the Muslims of Syria on the Day of Resurrection.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
«الْمُسْلِمُ أَخُو الْمُسْلِمِ، لَا يَظْلِمُهُ وَلَا يُسْلِمُهُ، وَمَنْ كَانَ فِي حَاجَةِ أَخِيهِ كَانَ اللهُ فِي حَاجَتِهِ، وَمَنْ فَرَّجَ عَنْ مُسْلِمٍ كُرْبَةً فَرَّجَ اللهُ عَنْهُ كُرْبَةً مِنْ كُرُبَاتِ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ، وَمَنْ سَتَرَ مُسْلِمًا سَتَرَهُ اللهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ»
“A Muslim is a brother of a Muslim, he does not oppress him, nor hand him over to an oppressor. Whoever fulfilled the need of his brother, Allah will fulfill his need; whoever brought his brother out of discomfort, Allah will bring him out of the discomforts of the Day of resurrection, and whoever hides the faults of a Muslim, Allah will hide his faults on the Day of Resurrection.”
Tsuroyya Amal Yasna