Refugees in small patch of land where Syria, Lebanon and Israel meet

Описание: (26 Apr 2014) The frontiers of Syria, Lebanon and Israel meet in the 65 square-kilometre Chebaa Farms area that for decades has been a source of friction, complicated by ownership disputes and Israeli occupation.
While relations have been hostile between Syria and Israel since its army captured part of the Golan Heights in the 1967 Mideast war, Syria's ruling Assad family has kept the border area with Israel quiet for most of the past 40 years.
More recently, the unmarked border between Syria and Lebanon has become a source of friction.
Lebanese militants, fighting on the opposing sides in Syria's civil war have been moving troops and weapons freely over the 365-kilometre (226-mile) invisible frontier while Syrians fleeing their country's bloodshed keep pouring into Lebanon.
The presence of Syrian refugees has doubled the number of inhabitants in a Chebaa.
Most of the refugees come from Beit Jinn, a Syrian village at the foot of Mount Hermon that has been under siege by Syrian troops for months with no food or medicine allowed to reach trapped civilians inside.
To reach safety, desperate people now go on a perilous trek over the 2,814-metre (9,232-foot) Hermon mountain.
Umm Alaa made the journey from Beit Jinn a year ago with her Lebanese husband.
She is now living a life of a refugee in her husband's country, while he is living under siege back in Syria to guard the family home.
Farizeh Kabalan, a 74-year-old woman who arrived in Chebaa after midnight on a mule from Beit Jinn, said that she lost her son and she could not bear any more the shelling in her besieged village.
About 75 refugees are crammed into the basement and what was once a conference hall in Chebaa's Islamic centre.
They share two bathrooms and a kitchen, with whole families living in rooms, separated only by blue, plastic sheets.
The conflict in Syria has further complicated an already complex situation, and fighting has occasionally flared up.
In March, two roadside bombs targeted Israeli military patrols in the Chebaa area.
Israel responded with artillery strikes on Syrian army targets.
A few days earlier, a roadside bomb went off near the Israeli military patrol along the Lebanese border, causing no injuries.


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