The principal Syrian port city of Latakia has now became a haven for hundreds of thousands of internal refugees fleeing from the horrors of war that has raged across Syria for over five years.
The total number of refugees, 1,6 million of people, has even surpassed the city's population which amounted to 1,3 million in 2011.
The refugees have come to Latakia from many of Syria’s cities – Hama, Homs, Idlib, Raqqa – and the vast majority of them, some 700 thousand people, were originally residents of Aleppo. Some of them were able to find work and rent apartments while others bunk in school buildings, sports venues and hospitals and survive on humanitarian aid.
The stories told by the refugees sometimes sound similar, yet many of these people ended up in quite different circumstances.
"We moved here in 2012," a man named Abdulkadir said. "Armed looters robbed the store I worked at, took all the money. I wasn’t at home when my home was ransacked and three of my children were kidnapped. We’ve managed to ransom them and, Allah be praised, they’re here with me now. I don’t know what happened to my home. I pray that someday I’ll be able to return home."
Former resident of Aleppo Muhammed Faruk also had to flee the city in 2012.
"We left everything behind – our homes, our work, our possessions. Two of my houses were destroyed," he said. "The most important thing is that five of my children are here with me. What we’ve seen and endured cannot be described with words. There is no revolution, it’s all lies and hypocrisy."
Selahaddin Ziyad, a power service specialist, moved to Latakia 4,5 years ago.
"Armed gangs turned our lives upside down, destroyed our homes. Now each month I spend 15 days here and another 15 in Aleppo," he said. "I know it’s dangerous there, but there’s no power in Aleppo and I’m a government employee – the city residents need our help, and it’s my duty to assist them."
A woman who used to live in the Zibdiyye neighborhood of Aleppo explained how she and her family can now barely sustain themselves.
"Our house was burned down, we’ve got nothing left. My husband suffered a heart attack, he’s unable to work," she lamented. "Sometimes we can’t even afford bread. Our children are looking for work but to no avail. And the humanitarian organizations send aid only once in 2-3 months."
"We moved here from the Ashrafieh district of Aleppo," a girl playing at the Ras al-Basit beach said. "There was shooting all the time, it was really scary and we had to hide constantly. Now I have new friends here, but I hope that we’ll be able to return home."
