Syrian refugees stalk Beirut’s commercial districts such as Hamra and Achrafieh. Shoeshine boys walk up and down the avenues, including the beachfront, the Corniche, asking to clean your shoes. A group of them say that they are from Dara’a, the southwestern city of Syria where the rebellion began in 2011. One of them draws his fingers across his throat to say that his parents were killed in the violence. He now sleeps on Beirut’s streets with his brother and friends, trying to eke out a living. Women sit on the sidewalks, cradling children, begging. A Beiruti says that some poor Lebanese have taken advantage of the goodwill to masquerade as Syrians. That is perhaps why a...
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