Questions around a compound of Shiite refugees from Syria show lingering post-Assad fears
HERMEL: A walled compound in Lebanon housing hundreds of people who fled their homes in Syria after the fall of Bashar Assad over a year ago has drawn allegations that the residents are Assad loyalists, which they deny.
The attention on the compound in Hermel town highlights the sensitivities around Syria's transformation after a long civil war, suspicions that can linger about identity and minorities' fear of retaliation.
The Associated Press visited the 228-unit compound in northeastern Lebanon along Syria's border. It is decorated with posters of Assad allies including Iranian religious leaders and generals as well as fallen commanders of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group.
The residents of the Imam Ali Housing Compound are mostly Shiite Muslims. They include scores of Lebanese who had lived for generations in Syrian villages near the Lebanese border.
Army sweeps find no illegal activity
Allegations by media outlets that residents were conspiring against Syria's new Sunni Islamist rulers have led to several raids by the Lebanese army, which later announced it found no armed activities.
Meanwhile, some have alleged that the Iran-backed Hezbollah is using the compound to recruit fighters after its heavy losses during and after its latest war with Israel.
Ghada Ayoub, a legislator with the anti-Hezbollah Lebanese Forces Party, said last month that she has formally asked the government about the building of the compound without state supervision "by an armed group" in a sensitive border area. Ayoub this week told the AP she did not receive any response and that she plans to follow up.
The Lebanese army last month said it conducted its latest sweep of the compound and did not find anything illegal.
Syrian citizen Mohammed Assoura, 57, and his wife moved into one of the housing units, consisting of a room, a small kitchen and a toilet, in October. Before that, they sheltered for months in a mosque and then at an apartment they rented for $150 a month, eventually leaving them broke.
"Do I look like a fuloul of the regime?" asked Assoura, smoking a cigarette as he sat cross-legged in his new home, referring to the Arabic word for "remnants." The term is widely used to refer to Assad loyalists.
Assoura said he fled with his wife on a motorcycle to Lebanon after receiving calls from relatives warning them that Assad was overthrown. Concerns were high about retaliatory attacks on anyone seen as having supported his government or Lebanon's Hezbollah.
Assoura pointed to a small bag in the corner, saying it was all he brought from Syria, with cash and identity cards. He now relies on aid from local nongovernmental organizations to survive and hopes to return to Syria soon.
An influx of refugees
During Syria's civil war that broke out in 2011, Lebanon's Hezbollah sent thousands of fighters to help Assad stay in power. They remained until insurgent groups marched into Damascus in December 2024, ending the 54-year rule of the Assad family.
The mayor of Hermel, Ali Taha, recounted how after the fall of Assad some 50,000 people fled from Syria to the town, doubling the population within hours. People filled mosques and schools, while others stayed with relatives or in tents set up in public gardens. Many later moved elsewhere in Lebanon.
Syria's upheaval under Assad created more than 5 million refugees. Lebanon hosted an estimated 1.5 million of them. Some half-million Syrians have returned since Assad's fall, according to Lebanon's social affairs minister.
But tens of thousands of new refugees have fled to Lebanon. They are mainly Shiites as well as members of Syria's minority Alawite sect after clashes between Assad's supporters and the new authorities led to sectarian killings of hundreds of Alawite civilians.
Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has promised to hold perpetrators of sectarian violence accountable, but minority communities remain wary.
The Hermel mayor said the idea for the compound as a place for those unable to pay rent came when classes resumed, highlighting the need to clear refugees from schools.
The municipality owned the land, and funding for the housing units came from Shiite religious institutions in Iraq and Iran, Taha said.
The mayor denied that the compound is being used to conspire against Syrian authorities, saying that would not be in the interest of the border region.
"The allegations regarding this facility are politically motivated," Taha said.
The United Nations refugee agency said it had no presence at the camp and no information on what is happening inside.
'Better than staying in tents'
Maha al-Abeer, a Syrian widow from the border town of Qusair, lives in one of the housing units and has opened a grocery shop to support her son and four daughters.
"Thank God we are sheltered. It's better than staying in tents and mosques," said al-Abeer, who also denied allegations about the camp.
Qusair was attacked and captured by Hezbollah in 2013, marking the group's first public involvement in Syria's conflict and leading to a rise in anti-Shiite sentiments among Syria's Sunni majority.
Shayban Midlij, 73, and his wife, Ihasn, 70, both born in Fadlieh village just across the border, worked for decades in farming but left everything behind and fled after Assad's fall, fearing reprisals by Sunni gunmen because they are Shiites.
They now share a unit in the compound with their daughter and her three children.
"Before moving here we were at a Shiite mosque. It was like hell," said the wife, referring to the crowds and how illnesses easily spread.
She denied the presence of pro-Assad elements.
"We are all old people waiting to die and be buried," she said.