Feature: Job competition fuel tensions between Syrian refugees, Lebanese hosts

A number of young Syrian workers were about to be fired from an agricultural reserve in southern Lebanon. They are beaten and insulted by the local people who believe that these displaced Syrians were here to rob them of their jobs.

Abou Hussein Jamal al-Zoghbi, who fled his hometown in Damascus, Syria's capital, told Xinhua that tensions and hostility are growing as he and his fellow Syrians are competing with the local host in jobs in factories or building sites.

Hatem al-Ali was from Syria's Idlib province. He said with cut in international aid and tough security measures applied around refugee camps, they feel like being treated as prisoners, adding that most of the refugees are now in debt after exhausting all their savings.

According to a recent study made by the UNICEF and the FAO, some 950,000 Syrian refugees are now in debt to the Lebanese and the debts are mostly for the supermarkets, the landlords and the medical centers.

Abla al-Shagouri and her seven children are now living with their family in a tiny room on the outskirts of the bekaa city of Zahle. She said she has to eat less to reduce their daily expenses.

"We rarely buy meat or chicken and our basic food is limited to eggs, lentils and beans. We collect the seasonal fruits left buy the farmers from the nearby fields," she said.

The Syrian mother said an owner of a small store provides them with foodstuff and allow them to pay by installments.

The concerned aid agencies estimate that 70 to 80 percent of the Syrian refugees are living under the poverty line, and that the daily expenses of a refugee averages between 50 U.S. cents and three dollars.

Under sever financial constrains, many of the Syrian refugee kids were forced to leave school, and look for a job at the labor market.

Dr. Abdel Sattar Abou Ali was also from Damascus. He is now giving private lessons to Lebanese school boys for five dollars per hour.

"The main concern of the refugees is the monthly rent of the houses they are living in, and there have been repeated cases where families have been ejected from their houses because they did not pay their rent for two or three months," he said. Enditem