HERMEL, Lebanon (AP) — A walled compound in Lebanon that houses hundreds of people who fled their homes in Syria after the fall of Bashar Assad more than a year ago has drawn accusations that the residents are Assad loyalists, which he denies.
The focus on the compound in the city of Hermel highlights sensitivities surrounding Syria’s transformation after a long civil war, suspicions that can linger about identity and minorities’ fear of reprisals.
The Associated Press visited the 228-unit complex in northeastern Lebanon along the border with Syria. It is decorated with posters of Assad’s allies, including Iranian religious leaders and generals, as well as fallen commanders of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group.
The residents of the Imam Ali housing complex are mostly Shia Muslims. They include dozens of Lebanese who have lived for generations in Syrian villages near the border with Lebanon.
Army surveyors found no illegal activity
Accusations by media outlets that residents were conspiring against Syria’s new Sunni Islamist rulers led to several raids by the Lebanese army, which later announced it had found no armed activity.
Meanwhile, some have claimed that Iran-backed Hezbollah is using the compound to recruit fighters after heavy losses during and after its latest war with Israel.
Ghada Ayoub, a lawmaker from the anti-Hezbollah Lebanese Forces Party, said last month that he had formally asked the government about the building of the complex without state oversight “by an armed group” in a sensitive border area. Ayoub told the AP this week that he has received no response and plans to move on.
The Lebanese army said last month it had carried out its latest check of the compound and found nothing illegal.
Syrian citizen Mohammed Assoura, 57, and his wife moved into one of the housing units, consisting of one room, a small kitchen and a toilet, in October. Before that, they sheltered in a mosque for months and then in an apartment they rented for $150 a month, eventually leaving them broke.
“Do I look like a regime nut?” Assoura asked, smoking a cigarette as he sat cross-legged in his new home, referring to the Arabic word for “leftovers.” The term is widely used to refer to Assad loyalists.
Assoura said he fled with his wife on a motorcycle to Lebanon after receiving calls from relatives warning them that Assad had been overthrown. Concerns were high about reprisal attacks on anyone seen as supporting his government or Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Assoura pointed to a small bag in the corner, saying it was all he brought from Syria, with cash and ID cards. They now rely on the help of local non-governmental organizations to survive and hope to return to Syria soon.
An influx of refugees
During the Syrian civil war that broke out in 2011, Lebanon’s Hezbollah sent thousands of fighters to help Assad stay in power. They remained until insurgent groups marched into Damascus in December 2024, ending the Assad family’s 54-year rule.
The mayor of Hermel, Ali Taha, told how after Assad’s fall, around 50,000 people fled Syria to the city, doubling the population within hours. People filled mosques and schools, while others stayed with relatives or in tents set up in public gardens. Many later moved elsewhere in Lebanon.
Syria’s unrest under Assad has created more than 5 million refugees. Lebanon hosted about 1.5 million of them. About half a million Syrians have returned since the fall of Assad, according to Lebanon’s social affairs minister.
But tens of thousands of new refugees fled to Lebanon. They are mainly Shiites, as well as members of Syria’s minority Alawite sect, after clashes between Assad’s supporters and the new authorities led to the sectarian killing of hundreds of Alawite civilians.
Syria’s interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, has vowed to hold perpetrators of sectarian violence accountable, but minority communities remain wary.
Mayor Hermel said that the idea of the complex as a place for those who cannot pay the rent came when classes resumed, stressing the need to release refugees from schools.
The municipality owned the land, and funding for the housing units came from Shiite religious institutions in Iraq and Iran, Taha said.
The mayor denied that the complex was being used to plot against Syrian authorities, saying it would not be in the interests of the border region.
“The allegations about this facility are politically motivated,” Taha said.
The United Nations Refugee Agency said it had no presence in the camp and no information about what was happening inside.
“Better than staying in tents”
Maha al-Abeer, a Syrian widow from the border town of Qusair, lives in one of the housing units and opened a grocery store to support her son and four daughters.
“We thank God that we are sheltered. It is better than staying in tents and mosques,” said al-Abeer, who also denied the allegations about the camp.
Qusair was attacked and captured by Hezbollah in 2013, marking the group’s first public involvement in Syria’s conflict and leading to a rise in anti-Shia sentiment among Syria’s Sunni majority.
Shayban Midlij, 73, and his wife Ihasn, 70, both born in the village of Fadlieh, just across the border, worked in agriculture for decades but left everything behind and fled after Assad’s fall, fearing reprisals from armed Sunnis for being Shiites.
They now share a unit in the complex with their daughter and her three children.
“Before we moved here, we were at a Shia mosque. It was like hell,” the wife said, referring to the crowds and how easily diseases spread.
She denied the presence of pro-Assad elements.
“We are all old people waiting to die and be buried,” she said.