The economic stress within Syria is reaching dangerous proportions.

[WilliamPitt]

One word: refugees.

===

Syria, Traditional Refuge for Displaced Arabs, Is Strained by 120,000 More

By KATHERINE ZOEPF
Published: July 25, 2006

DAMASCUS, Syria, July 24 — With the number of Lebanese refugees who have crossed into Syria now estimated at more than 120,000 and increasing by the day, many Syrians are privately expressing concern about the potential economic effects on their country. While wealthier and better-connected Lebanese are staying in hotels or with relatives, and planning to travel on to other countries, tens of thousands are staying with volunteer hosts or finding floor space in schools or mosques. They face an increasingly uncertain future.

(snip)

Syria, a country of 19 million, is already home to about 420,000 Palestinian refugees, according to the United Nations. Since the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, Syria has also taken in about a million Iraqi refugees, according to Syrian government figures.

(snip)

It is not geography alone that makes Syria a natural destination. Baathist-led Syria, the last bastion of pan-Arabism in the Middle East, allows the citizens of any Arab country to enter without visas, and even to settle here permanently. That right is enshrined in the Syrian Constitution, and according to Faisal Kalthoum, a constitutional law professor and a member of the Baath Party’s central committee, Syrian officials even avoid the word “refugee,” preferring to talk about the Lebanese as fellow members of a greater Arab nation.

“When the Syrian Constitution was laid down in 1973, the first article stated that Syria is part of the Arab nation,” Mr. Kalthoum said. “From this constitutional background, all Arabs have the right to enter Syria without a visa. Any Arab may enter Syria with the Constitution behind him. He is free to own property, to be educated here, and he has the same rights to social and health services as any Syrian.”

(snip)

Though Syria’s pan-Arab stance is undoubtedly appreciated by the hundreds of thousands who have made new homes here, many Syrians say tensions are rising. Refugees are driving up the costs of housing and food to near-unbearable levels for many Syrians, and there is a popular perception that they are contributing to a rising crime rate.

On June 23, riots broke out in Jaramana, a southern suburb of Damascus that is home to about 50,000 Iraqi refugees, after the killing of a young Syrian man. Although no one has been convicted yet, many local Syrians say they are convinced that an Iraqi refugee was to blame.

In the riots, Syrian mobs attacked Iraqi shops and houses, and hundreds of Iraqi-owned cars were burned. The violence is being widely discussed here as a sign that Syria is filled to the bursting point and that its citizens are fed up.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/25/world/middleeast/25refugees.html?hp&ex=1153886400&en=cc34ea5e629fa1ba&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[EFerrari]

1. This has been happening ever since the 6 day war.

Isn't that right? The influx of Palestinian refugees has stressed out the whole area for more than half a century.

That's a long time.

[ClintonTyree]

2. Maybe we should send Babs Bush over there..........

to tell the Lebanese how lucky they are, you know, since they had it so bad in Lebanon and are now in a nice, safe place. Just like she did to the Katrina victims in Houston. :eyes:

I shouldn't make light of this situation but that's how I usually deal with tragedy. This suffering HAS to stop, NOW!

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Thanks, Will.