Lebanese Refugees in Homs Arouse Fear of Israeli Airstrikes

Fears about potential Israeli airstrikes targeting Lebanese refugees arriving in Homs – because some of them may be affiliated with Hezbollah – have discouraged locals from hosting them in certain areas. In multiple instances, residents requested Lebanese tenants that have lived in Homs since 2011 and are known to be affiliated with Hezbollah to evacuate their rented homes.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard-affiliated militias, including Hezbollah, intervened in the Syrian war on the side of regime forces against opposition factions in Homs following the outbreak of the 2011 revolution. While most Iranians stayed in hotel rooms, such as the Safir Hotel in the Inshaat neighbourhood and the Grand Hotel Homs on Damascus Road, Hezbollah members rented homes in central neighbourhoods such as Inshaat, Hamra, and the Municipal Stadium, or in Alawite-majority areas like Zahraa and Wadi Al-Dahab, often forcibly taking over vacant properties of displaced families. When military operations in the city ended in 2014, a significant number of these Lebanese and Iranians remained in the city, generally accepted by the local Alawite community.

However, as Israel incremented its targeting of IRGC and Hezbollah leaders in Syria in the last year, public sentiment became less welcoming. In February 2024, an Israeli airstrike targeted a building in the upscale Hamra district, destroying it and killing eight people, including two Iranian tenants reportedly from the IRGC.

The Syria Report talked to Marwa, a woman in her fifties, who lives in Wadi Al-Dahab. Wadi Al-Dahab is an informal neighbourhood in the southern part of Homs with a majority Alawite population. The neighbourhood, which became an active base for the pro-regime National Defence Forces militia during the Syrian uprising, hosts a prison and several military sites, attracting many Hezbollah members to live there.

Marwa lives in a building that belongs to her uncle. Three years ago, her uncle rented one of the apartments to two Hezbollah members. Because of growing concerns about Israeli airstrikes targeting Hezbollah members in Syria, and therefore that their building would be attacked, last month Marwa asked her uncle to request the tenants to leave. They complied, vacating the property. This prompted other residents to ask other suspected Hezbollah-affiliated tenants to also leave. Marwa told The Syria Report that, previously, no one would have dared ask Hezbollah members to leave. However, after the September explosions targeting party members’ pagers in Lebanon and subsequent targeting of Hezbollah leaders across Lebanese territory and, occasionally, in Syria, attitudes have shifted.

Since the start of Israel’s ground offensive in southern Lebanon in early October, Lebanese refugees have arrived in the Wadi Al-Dahab neighbourhood seeking accommodation. Local sources told The Syria Report that many residents are reluctant to rent to refugee families with adult males due to concerns that they might belong to Hezbollah. Despite these risks, people in Homs’ poorer neighbourhoods continue to rent to Lebanese refugees as most pay rent in U.S. dollars.

Rents have significantly increased following the influx of Lebanese refugees. Currently, monthly rents in Wadi Al-Dahab are around USD 200 for unfurnished apartments and USD 400 for furnished ones, a sharp rise from the previous rates of SYP 700,000 (approximately USD 42) for unfurnished and SYP 1.5 million (USD 103) for furnished apartments. Most rental contracts with Lebanese refugees are for three months, paid upfront.

This situation in Homs’s impoverished and peripheral informal neighbourhoods contrasts with central, zoned areas. As the number of Lebanese refugees in Homs increases, a rumour has circulated that a security directive has been issued instructing real estate offices not to rent to Lebanese families, even if they consist solely of women and children. The Syria Report spoke with property agents in Homs and none confirmed the existence of an official security directive against renting to Lebanese tenants. However, despite the fact that they would have a financial interest in renting flats for these refugees, these property agents said that they preferred not to rent to Lebanese refugees because specific shelters had been allocated to them. These answers highlight the fear of Israeli attacks, and the level of tensions due the ambiguity in the relationship between the regime and Hezbollah, after the regime’s non-participation in the fighting against Israel.

Similarly, in the predominantly-Alawite Zahraa informal neighbourhood east of Homs, many residents are employed in public sector institutions, particularly in security and military institutions. Since 2013, Zahraa has seen a significant presence of Hezbollah members and Iranian personnel affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, who either rented properties or took over homes belonging to absent Sunni displaced by the conflict. The area, which experienced intense sectarian conflict between Alawite militias and Sunni opposition factions in neighbouring districts, also saw many of its youth join pro-regime militias, including Hezbollah. Since October 2023, public sentiment in Zahraa has grown increasingly uneasy about the presence of Iranian and Hezbollah forces, amid fears that their conflicts with Israel could spill into the neighbourhood.

Samar, a woman in her thirties and a relative of a National Defence Force commander in Zahraa who fought alongside Hezbollah against opposition forces, told The Syria Report that today the Alawite community is more fearful of the Iranian presence and Hezbollah members than of armed opposition groups. She explained that this fear primarily stems from a widespread belief among locals that the Syrian state is absent, the regime is weakened, and they have no means to curb Iranian influence. According to Samar, Iranian-backed militias were once welcomed as “defenders of Syria against a terrorist conspiracy” but are now increasingly unwelcome.

Awad, a young Alawite man in his thirties who works in a government office in Homs and lives in the Zahraa neighbourhood, told The Syria Report that an unknown Iranian man bought a plot of land in the area a year ago, designated for construction, and began building a licensed residential structure. Recently, rumours linked the man to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. A delegation from the community visited the Iranian man, trying to learn more about his background and asking him to leave, fearing his building might be targeted or used as a pretext to attack the neighbourhood. The Iranian showed no willingness to comply. Then, the residents sent another delegation, including Alawite sheikhs and community leaders, to meet the Homs governor, requesting his intervention to pressure the Iranian to leave. Rumours circulated that the governor summoned the man, asked him to halt construction, and leave the area, which reportedly happened, though confirmation of the governor’s direct involvement remains unclear.

Amidst this caution from the Alawite community about housing Lebanese refugees, it appears that Lebanese refugees, especially Shia, prefer moving to the Abbasiya neighbourhood in eastern Homs. This informal area has, over the past two years, become a stronghold for Shia militias. During the conflict, Abbasiya attracted many Shia families from Homs’ countryside, Idlib, and Aleppo. Some were forcibly displaced from the Idlib villages of Kafraya and Al-Fuaa after opposition forces took control. Many Abbasiya residents are openly affiliated with Hezbollah, often moving around in armed convoys carrying the party’s flags. Additionally, some drug dealers in the area collaborate with producers in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley and the Hezbollah-controlled Syrian-Lebanese border. In recent years, numerous Alawite residents have left Abbasiya, relocating to other parts of Homs.

While predominantly Alawite areas in Homs continue to accommodate Lebanese refugees after verifying they have no ties to Hezbollah, this is not the case in some Christian-majority neighbourhoods. For instance, in the Armenian neighbourhood, adjacent to Zahraa, Christian residents sought help from their Alawite acquaintances in Homs to verify the identities of Lebanese residents. In response, an Alawite delegation was formed and visited the Armenian neighbourhood, asking all non-Syrian tenants to leave.