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He added: “Ahmed and Basma’s attempt to survive the fetus they were carrying quickly ended in a tragedy far greater than their loss. Yesterday, Friday, Basma, who is pregnant, and her two children Muhammad and Ayham, along with another woman and her son, bodies were found under the snow in Laayoune Argash, which lies at the foot of a chain. “The mountains of western Lebanon, northwest of Baalbek (Bekaa), rise 2,200 meters from the sea, and are often deserted throughout winter due to accumulation of snow on them.
The father said, in testimony given at Ram’s Bekaa police station: “Due to their illness, we decided that Basma would return to Syria and contacted the smuggler, who confirmed that they would not walk on their feet, but would take them directly to Homs. I paid him a million and a half Lebanese pounds in exchange for his salary and he came to Beirut and took them away. To take them to Homs, as I said.
Ahmed added in his interview with the Al-Hurra website: “The forensic doctor said that” the death occurred 3 days ago, the night of March 24. This is all I know so far, and he pointed out that the smuggler assured me that they will not walk at all and that he will take them directly to Homs and the whole way will be in the SUV however this did not happen. The smuggler now says they have been lost and no longer sees them, whereas when he took them he said he had a military line with Homs. ”
What is meant by military line? Muhammad, who has been working on Syrian refugee issues for years, says: “All land borders are controlled by Hezbollah and its members or supporters who carry out the smuggling operation. They work for a week in Syria and return another week to the Lebanon, and therefore some of them take the refugees with them and take their money. Others work as smugglers, which means that the best thing for them was to cover the course of the party. ”
According to the father, Ahmad, he does not know why the smuggler took this road, which, he says, leads to Damascus and not to Homs. Here, Jumaa, a Syrian activist who follows the smuggling issue, says: “The smuggling routes are many, and this road does not necessarily lead to a specific location. Smugglers often follow long, winding roads to escape safety, checkpoints and barriers “. . ”
Some time ago, the Lebanese army arrested more than 30 people who were trying to surreptitiously cross the border. The officer in charge of the area in which Basma and her sons were located was known to be very strict and was able to close most of the ports, making it difficult for smugglers to work.
In this context, Jumaa says: “It turned out that the smuggler took them out of Beirut and drove with them through Wadi Khaled to cross from the Harbata area, but he was surprised by the security check, so it seems that he had to Completed the I walk on foot, so they got stuck in the storm and he fled, leaving the family behind. ”
And he adds: “Generally, all the smugglers tell you that you will not walk on your feet and that they will take you to your destination by car, but that is not true. They also tell families that there is a small distance they have to walk. on foot, but it always turns out that his words are inaccurate and that the distance can take hours and this is what happened with the family, who found themselves in the frost ”.
According to security sources as a result of the matter, “the trafficked families lost their way, and on March 24 they contacted the civil defense and security forces, and most of the traffickers were found and rescued, except for two women and their children, and the search continued for two days in a row until they were found yesterday. “
The investigation is ongoing, according to security forces, and there is a search and investigation report against some of the names believed to be responsible for the incident.
The smuggling movement has been active on the Syrian-Lebanese border for decades and has increased dramatically after the Syrian nation, which started after the revolution in 2011, and the smuggling has shifted from oil and food products to expanding to include people.
Muhammad, who works with relief affairs, says: “From Baalbek to Nabi Shit, Al Masnaa and Rashaya, Hezbollah controls the crossings and smuggling lines, except for one point in the city of Arsal in the Bekaa, which is controlled by the Lebanese army. From Al-Shanshar Junction, and they have shifts in Syria, during which the smuggling process takes place. ”
More recently, Muhammad explains that smuggling is divided into two types: the first is that the person regularly crosses the Syrian border into Jadidat Yabous in the factory area, and the driver calls the smuggler to be delivered to the person who has intending to surreptitiously cross into Lebanon, so the smuggler takes it and enters it from the Souiri area, which is close to the factory.
The second type, through Al-Zabadani, which is smuggling without crossing the borders of both sides, and this happens in many cases, especially if someone who wants to flee intends to return, for example, to Syria at the end. of a time. We received children who never crossed the border, a woman with 3 children, we received her two days ago and we are expecting others in the next two days.
Muhammad says: “The smuggler captures each person 50 or 100 dollars, and makes them cross the road from the mountain on foot until they reach the Lebanese border. This road is exposed by the security services, and the whole area is exposed, there are about 100 people who cross sometimes in one night ”.
Returning to Basma, whose life paid a price for trying to return home and save her fetus, she has no legal residency papers in Lebanon, so she has no choice but to illegal crossings. The father also says: “Even if his papers are Regular, whoever returns to Syria is prohibited by General Security. To re-enter Lebanon for a period that can reach years. ”
“A refugee cannot return to Lebanon if he crosses the border into Syria, and this is against the law, especially if we are talking about refugees,” said Nadia Hardman, a researcher on refugee affairs at Human Rights Watch.
Lebanese General Security prevents Syrian refugee families who regularly return to Syria from crossing back into Lebanon after passports are stamped, which, according to Syrian activists, has led to a significant increase in the number of refugees crossing the border irregularly to guarantee their return or the possibility of their return to Lebanon.
“No one knows the circumstances that caused these families to resort to illegal ways to cross the border,” Hadarkan said. “Refugees here in Lebanon suffer from poverty and destitution and live in shelters and camps, and most of them do not have access to medicine or the simpler necessities of life, and the Lebanese authorities tell them if they don’t like it: “Your situation, you can go back where you came from.”
Regarding the Basma case, according to Harman, the organization communicates with the officials after the results of the investigation are known, and we are following the case to see what happens, but we will press for a serious investigation, and we cannot say anything. now. Let the investigation finish first, we don’t want to get ahead of it even though past experiences are not encouraging. ”
Ahmed, the father, does not know what he will do and how to regain his rights from the trafficker who killed his wife and their two children, Ayham and Muhammad. He will wait, he says, for anyone interested in his case or refugees in general, especially the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, to contact him. So far, Ahmed has not come out of the shock and above all he is afraid and wonders who will get the right from these powerful people.
