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Mahmud Hajar shortly before Cyprus.
He doesn't want to go back to Tripoli: "I'd rather die here"
Photo:
Thore Schroeder
Unifil stands for United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
The United Nations peacekeeping force monitors the border between Lebanon and Israel, and their ships patrol the Mediterranean coast to intercept illegal arms deliveries.
Last Monday, the blue helmets suddenly had a new task when they rescued a boat with refugees from distress.
One of the 37 passengers had already died, and ten women and five children were on board.
A survivor later reported to the Al-Modon newspaper that there were more than 37 people on board.
For four days they drifted on the waves without a leader, two children died of thirst, they threw their corpses overboard, and then two men threw themselves into the sea out of desperation.
The boat that was rescued by the Unifil ship was not steered by fishermen, but was apparently put on its way by unprofessional opportunists, according to Tripoli.
The smugglers claimed to be following them in a second boat, but then abandoned the migrants.
In the future, such missions could become a habit for the UN troops, because more and more boats leave Lebanon to bring people to Cyprus.
People are fleeing poverty, which is increasing due to the currency collapse and pandemic.
As early as April, the country's government expected that 75 percent of the population would be dependent on help.
The need not only affects the Lebanese, but also Palestinians and many of the around 1.5 million Syrians in the country.
No alternative to the dangerous sea route
Exactly how many have already left the country cannot be quantified.
Dr.
Nasser Yassin, migration expert from the American University of Beirut (AUB), says: "In the last few days I have tried to get more precise information and figures, but it is difficult because it is all so informal and secret."
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“They'll be picked up up there,” says Rabie Nakhal on the beach in Tripoli.
Photo: Thore Schroeder
Five years ago, when a particularly large number of refugees were on their way to Europe, there was still a direct ferry connection from Tripoli to Mersin in southern Turkey.
Along with Syrians who fled the civil war, many Lebanese came to the country along this route.
The ferry connection is no longer there.
In addition, Syrians have needed a visa since 2016 in order to be allowed to enter Turkey by sea or air.
And even for Lebanese there are hardly any safe escape routes, with their passport they can enter just 40 countries without a visa, a European country is not included.
Those who are not highly qualified or wealthy are left with the dangerous sea route in an emergency.
"They'll be picked up over there," says Rabie Nakhal over the littered beach of Tripoli.
Plastic bottles and broken glass are lying in the sand, a silver sequin shoe without a sole swims in the water.
It smells like feces.
There in front - that is the Mina district, once a picturesque fishing village, today the starting point for the exodus from the poor metropolis in northern Lebanon.
High unemployment, no prospects
Tripoli, the city with the Mameluk caravanserais and the crusader fortress, has long since run down, more than 60 percent of the population are unemployed.
In the Hay al-Tanak district, a fishermen's slum right on the littered beach, even the youngest know what the crossing to Cyprus costs.
"Three to four million lira," says Rabie Nakhal.
That's the equivalent of at least $ 400.
Others report $ 2,000, a fortune for most, unaffordable.
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Rabie fishes with a net that he casts from a truck tire.
The wages are extremely low.
Photo: Thore Schroeder
At the same time, they can hardly afford life in Tripoli.
The 43-year-old Rabie, for example, earns a maximum of 20,000 lira - just under $ 2.70 - a day if he catches something with his net.
Often it is not enough to put a meal on the table for him, his wife and the four children: "Then there are only a few olives."
He also had to repair the ceiling in his living room, which had just fallen down like this: "Fortunately, none of us was there at the time."
For a month, the people in the poor settlement say, more and more ships have been setting sail from Mina.
During the night, the passengers - Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians - are first brought to one of the islands off the coast in a small boat with an outboard engine, from where they board an open fishing boat about 20 meters long that is supposed to bring them to Cyprus.
20 to 40 people are on board this cutter.
The Lebanese coast guard is "leaving the boats alone," say two boys.
Hope for Europe
Mahmud Hajar fled a week ago with his four years younger brother Samir.
He confirmed the presentation on the phone.
"It only became difficult shortly before the coast of Cyprus, we waited a long time for the right moment," says the 27-year-old, who had to leave his wife and child behind.
Photos from board show him surrounded by other young men and even children.
They were about 50 people.
They would have paid for the boat together: "Everyone gave as much as he could."
He also confirms Rabie's reports: There is no real mafia in Tripoli, and in his experience impoverished fishermen hire out smugglers who themselves no longer see any other way out.
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Not a long way off: Cyprus is about 160 kilometers (100 nautical miles) from the Lebanese coast.
Photo: Thore Schroeder
Mahmud and Samir Hajar were also fishermen.
Now the brothers are sitting somewhere on the Greek side of the island in a camp hoping for Germany.
"You can apply for asylum there, right?"
Mahmud had been thinking about his escape for three or four years before he left.
Now, he explains on WhatsApp, he definitely doesn't want to go back: "I would rather die here."
Many refugees feel like him and his brother.
Their motto is: the main thing is gone.
Authorities in Cyprus are alarmed
The authorities in Nicosia are meanwhile alarmed.
Exact numbers of refugees are not available - neither on the Lebanese nor on the Cypriot side - but there are so many that an emergency meeting was scheduled at the Interior Ministry last week.
Before that, five boats had arrived within a few days.
A delegation from Cyprus was sent to the Levant.
According to reports, reception facilities on the island are overcrowded and there is a great fear of Covid-19.
So far, the boats have been forced to turn around before they reach the coast or passengers have been deported as quickly as possible.
The Lebanese are still cooperating, although those in charge in Beirut have already warned of the opening of the maritime border, as did Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, given the sluggish credit negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.
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The Cypriots also fear an influx from Syria.
A family man, who comes from near Latakia and runs a kiosk in Tripoli, tells of a farmer who came across the border especially to cross from Mina to Cyprus: "A very poor guy, also already 50 years old, he completely borrowed the money for the trip. "
"The disaster is inevitable"
Dr.
Mustafa Allusch is a surgeon at the private Nini hospital in Tripoli.
The 63-year-old was previously a member of the Lebanese parliament and had to hide from the Syrian and Hezbollah death squads for months.
The flight of his compatriots today reminds him of the exodus during the civil war.
Between 1975 and 1990, between 600,000 and 900,000 people left Lebanon.
Back then, too, many went to Cyprus by boat to apply for visas for countries such as Australia, Canada and the USA.
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Dr.
Mustafa Allusch was a member of parliament and as a doctor is now experiencing how more and more colleagues are leaving the country: "Things are getting worse."
Photo: Thore Schroeder
The new exodus has been noticeable for a few years now, and he has noticed it not least in him in the clinic: "Twelve doctors have left us in the last few years alone.
Allusch is certain that the brain drain will continue: "Things are going to get much worse here in Lebanon. I'm just realistic, the disaster is inevitable."
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