Abstract:
As a result of the Syrian crisis which began in 2011, Lebanon has been a main country
of refuge for a large number of Syrian refugees. According to the annual report from
the Danish Refugee Council (2016), 25% of Lebanon’s population are refugees. This
has led to serious concerns on the issue of their return. Interdisciplinary scholars from
different backgrounds have discussed the concept of repatriation, however, there has
been a lack of scholarly research on the return of Syrian refugees in Lebanon to their
home. This paper aims to study the challenges of repatriation of Syrian refugees and
examine whether they consider Lebanon as their second home. In my study, I will
assess their living conditions in Lebanon and their everyday ordeals based a number
of semi-structured interviews I have conducted with them. Collected data are crossreferenced
and analyzed with the general concept of repatriation that has been
discussed by scholars. Basically, it is found that the return to Syria is not happening in
the near future, and some refugees have found a second home in Lebanon due to the
severe losses they have faced after the 2011 war on Syria. Studies that have been
conducted for this project state that Syrian refugees portray the return to their
homeland as a ‘myth’ because the nostalgic feeling for Syria that they once knew is
no longer there.
