North, East and West — Aylin Elçi

Zahra and her family are stuck in Zgharta, North Lebanon, since 2013. While the family dreams of leaving, Zahra’s husband is dependent on UNHCR medication helping him live with the PTSD he has been suffering since the 2011 Syrian Civil War.

Zahra’s husband and their two children in Zgharta, North Lebanon.

Ahmad has been staying in a camp in the Beqaa Valley, East Lebanon, since 2012. Despite living only about 10 kilometres away from his home country, Syria, and seeing its mountains daily (behind him in the photo), the return perspectives that he faces haven't improved lately due to ongoing war. As the leader of his village, this former farmer decided to bring his extended family to the Lebanese country side, where they once took walks, after one of his sons was killed in cross fire, his land was spoiled by war junk, and his house was destroyed.

Children show off their acrobatic skills at a small Syrian refugee camp in the Beqaa valley, East Lebanon.

A girl in the room she shares with her mother in Ouzai, West Lebanon.

In the refugee camp of Ouzai, West Lebanon, residents rely on tapped electricity due to the lack of help from the private school nearby.

In the maronite city of Zgharta, following the murder and rape of a Lebanese Christian by a Syrian refugee in September 2017, relations between locals and refugees have been worsening.

In the Beqaa valley, only a few kilometers away from their native Syria, refugees live a life on hold in makeshift camps.

Meanwhile, about 1000 refugees live in Ouzai, the biggest camp of the country initially meant to be a university.

They are part of the 1.5 million Syrian refugees that are currently living in Lebanon.

Since the Syrian Civil war has begun in 2011, Lebanon has become the country that proportionally to its size, hosts the most refugees in the world. Around one in four are Syrian refugees and tensions are starting to rise.

(2018)