Iraqi Exodus: The Flight to Syria
By Shannon Geis
Over the past several years, there has been an enormous focus on the war in Iraq. Everyday there is more and more news on the progress or lack thereof that has been made since the U.S. Invasion. A point that, until recently, has been extremely overlooked is the flight of millions of Iraqis into bordering countries since the invasion.
The majority of these refugees have fled to Syria, a country along the northwest border of Iraq, largely because Syria, before the invasion in 2003, worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); the organization set up a temporary system of relocation assistance anticipating a large number of refugees immediately after the invasion. Tent cities and health clinics were set up for thousands of people. However, a mass exodus of Iraqis did not materialize and the facilities were disassembled.
Two years following the initial invasion, Iraqis began trickling into Syria. By the end of 2005, there were an estimated 450,000 refugees within the borders of Syria. The flow has been continuous and the estimates in December 2006 were close to 1 million just in Syria with 2,000 refugees entering the country daily.
The reason for this influx of migration over the last two years has much to do with the increasing violence within Iraq spurred on by insurgents and ethnic problems. There was a major increase in the numbers of refugees after the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra last February, which further intensified the violence. Christians have seen most of the persecution within Iraq, having to deal with the bombing of their churches and the demand that they conform to the Muslim way of life. One man in a U.S. News & World Report article stated that his Christian wife was forced to wear the hijab in public. Iraqis assisting American forces have also found themselves the targets of violence in recent months, including death threats for meeting with Americans.
Although Iraqis can escape much of the violence in their home country by fleeing to Syria, they must deal with dismal economic conditions once they are across. Small countries like Syria cannot afford to be permanently burdened with hundreds of thousands of new residents given their limited resources. Syria offers Iraqi refugees six-month temporary resident status with no real benefits other than the ability to travel freely within the country. Refugees have difficulty gaining access to healthcare and jobs because many Syrian businesses will not hire Iraqis. Many refugees are living off their savings because they are either unemployed or making miniscule wages.
In part due to the enormous number of refugees coming into the country, real estate prices have skyrocketed. Apartments that previously rented for $150 a month now cost up to $500. In general, prices within Syria have sharply increased as a result of the exodus.
Although Syria offers free education to the refugees pouring into the country, most of the Iraqi children are being turned away due to overcrowding in schools. Instead, these children have begun to support the family income by finding menial jobs.
The fact that many countries bordering Iraq have closed their borders to refugees does not help Syria’s situation. Saudia Arabia and Kuwait have shut themselves off from the growing problem. Jordan has also begun to turn away many of the refugees. Syria is the only country with its borders officially open to the Iraqis, despite its not having sufficient resources to provide permanent residency for the refugees. Unfortunately, it does not look like the Iraqis currently living in Syria will be leaving any time in the near future.
The effects of the mass migration are impacting not only the countries into which the refugees are fleeing, but also Iraq. The majority of the Iraqis who have migrated out of the country are those who can afford to do so, in other words the mostly college-educated middle and upper classes. The United States had been counting on these people to rebuild the country.
As the violence in Iraq escalates, more and more refugees are trying to leave the country’s borders. If Syria were to close its borders as the rest of Iraq’s bordering countries have, this would create a dire situation. According to U.S. News & World Report, a “pressure cooker” would be created once the Iraqis have no place to go to escape from the violence they are facing. However, these neighboring countries must also be aware of the threat of the violence in Iraq spilling over into their borders.
Recently, the issue of Iraqi refugees in Syria has gained some international attention. In late December, Pope Benedict XVI made a statement calling on the international community to give aid to the situation, emphasizing that a high percentage of the refugees are Christian. The UN is also calling for more aid in Syria. The UNHCR has presented a relief plan focused on healthcare, education, and social services in Syria and Jordan to begin in 2007.
According to Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, who has met with President Bashar al-Assad, Syria is discussing the idea of hosting a conference where all warring factions in Iraq can meet in Syria to work through their problems, but there has not been any talk of how soon it will take place. Perhaps a peace conference such as what Syria proposes could help to alleviate the current violence in Iraq.
