Feature: Displaced Syrian refugees celebrate their fifth Eid

A Syrian woman displaced from the devastated city of Idlib sits crossed-leg at the entrance of her tent in the Qab-Elias region in Lebanon's western Bekaa, with tears pouring down over pictures of her three children.

Amal al-Rifi, 55 from Damascus, told Xinhua "For the fifth time, Eid Al-Adha occurs with hunger and poverty surrounding me, but this time is worse as I am alone after my children traveled to unknown destinies in Europe."

She added with sorrow "it seems that the situation in Syria is not going to be settled anytime soon which is why my children decided to venture towards Europe in search of a chance to save themselves and me from this misery."

Amal al-Rifi told Xinhua "believe me, we do not celebrate Eid. Our best young men are being killed in the Syrian war. One of my children was killed three years ago by a takfiris' shell, and his twenty year-old brother recently decided to go to Germany after all his survival means in Lebanon had diminished."

She added "he decided about three months ago to leave with a bunch of his friends by sea to Turkey, and I haven't heard anything from him since then," pointing that "I fear he might have drowned or even worse, arrested and jailed. All I can do is pray, hoping he can reach Germany."

Al-Rifi said that her son has an advanced degree in computer science "but worked at a poultry farm in Lebanon after our displacement for 200 U.S. dollars per month."

She added "the real cause of our misery is the U.S., with its lofty claims of democracy and peace, when the reality is that it's an aggressive and unjust country."

Also displaced from Damascus, Fares al-Omari, points to "our main concern during Eid, before and after, is securing the minimum required food and clothing for our children. The Eid coincides with the beginning of the winter season, and we must consider securing our heating fuel and fortifying our tents to withstand nature's ravages."

He added "For us, Eid ushers heartache and we remember martyrs and victims, destruction and murder scenes in Syria unlike any the world has ever seen."

Al-Omari stressed "We ache for Syria and the world which claims to be civilized is both treacherous and spiteful. It burned and destroyed our country, and we were besieged by colonial countries who withheld aid from us."

He concluded "Eid is insignificant without a solution for Syria and our message to the world is stop conspiring against us and have mercy on the Syrian people since they have just as much right to safe living as you."

At the Bar-Elias camp for refugees, displaced Leila Abdel-Ghafour said she bought candies worth 2 USD to present to her children as Eid gifts.

She stressed to Xinhua "the economic situation is very tight, and men cannot find jobs easily, so we live on the aid provided by the United Nations Higher Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) which is decreasing on a monthly basis."

Abdel-Ghafour adds temperamentally "where is the Arab oil money? They abandoned us and sold us to the US and its allies."

In south Lebanon's Marjeyoun refugee camp, inhabited mostly by those displaced from the devastated city of Idlib, Mansou Abou al-Ghoraiby told Xinhua "we were informed that 70 to 100 people from our city were killed by the takfiris. Most were executed."

Al-Ghoraiby adds "this is the US's Eid gift to us. We urge the International Community and sympathetic countries to stand by Syria and its people until the aggressors are defeated."

Eid, or Bayram, is celebrated by Muslims worldwide and is distinguished by the HAJJ ritual performed in the Holy City of Mecca in Saudi Arabia and it involves a sacrificial banquet.

Muslims traditionally purchase new clothes for their children and visit tombs of their departed beloved ones, spending the rest of the day gathered around food prepared by the elders.

Another tradition is to prepare homemade cookies.

According to the UNHCR, Lebanon is hosting over 1.2 million mostly Muslim Syrian refugees. Endit