They went through the journey of death. The rest of the story reveals the scenes of "Harragat Al-Mashreq" and monitors the stories of loss in the sea that bleed hearts

The program "The Story Has a Rest" investigated the growing phenomenon of irregular migration from the shores of northern Lebanon through interviews with some of those who have gone through death journeys, smugglers, officials and lawyers.

On 2023/7/17, the program continued the story of "Harraga of the Levant", and according to the documentary broadcast by the program, more than 25,2014 irregular migrants whose dreams saw the waters of the Mediterranean Sea drowned or gone missing since <>, according to international reports.

Ahmed Simsim, Baree Safwan and Osama Tallawy shared the stories of the loss of loved ones who were swallowed by the sea and with them their dreams of a better life because they followed dreams of migrating to the north of Europe to escape their homelands and dreams of living in dignity.

The documentary shed light on the situation in Lebanon, which is still clouded by feelings of sadness and anger after the tragedy of the drowning and loss of hundreds of irregular migrants - including Lebanese, Syrians, Egyptians and Pakistanis - off the Greek coast.

The report pointed out that human rights and humanitarian organizations questioned the official accounts provided by the official authorities in the aftermath of each drowning incident, and here it stopped at the story of a Lebanese citizen who was on board a migrant boat with a number of her family members who lost them after a collision targeted the Lebanese army with the boat they were traveling in with dozens of irregular migrants.

However, the Lebanese authorities rejected these allegations and confirmed that it was the irregular migration boat that hit the army boat, and that the army did everything in their power to rescue those on board, and managed to save 45 people, while 17 others were missing.

The roots of this phenomenon go back mainly to the Arab Maghreb countries, and then spread to the countries of the Arab Mashreq, as the program's report stated that the number of those seeking irregular migration has increased by 3 times since 2014, and with regard to the Levantine nationalities coming to irregular migration, the Syrians come in the forefront, then the Lebanese and then the Palestinians.

The first flame of harraga (irregular migrants) in the Maghreb began in 1995 as a result of the tightening of restrictions by some European countries on migrants, and they were historically known as "harraga" because they burned their documents upon arrival at the European bank, and then this phenomenon has spread in recent years to Middle Eastern countries, including Lebanon.

A real tragedy

Political expert Ziad al-Sayegh said irregular migration represents a real tragedy facing the Lebanese judiciary and military and security forces, which he said are required to arrest those involved in organized crime through human trafficking.

Al-Sayegh pointed out that smugglers' networks are not limited to Lebanon, but are linked to neighboring border countries, noting that investigations are ongoing, and there are continuous arrests of groups that organize human trafficking and smuggling, stressing that the security approach is not enough and must address the economic and social causes of this phenomenon.

For his part, lawyer and consultant in international law Mads Haarlem blamed European countries for human trafficking crimes "because they push away migrants and those seeking political asylum, which makes most migrants resort to irregular routes."

Harlem also called on European countries to conduct comprehensive international investigations into incidents of irregular migration, stressing that the victims are deceived, and that the concerned countries must search for them at sea and bring them to the port of salvation regardless of the legality of the migration routes they followed.

Syrian refugee in Lebanon Wissam al-Tallawy, one of the victims of irregular migration attempts from Lebanon, told his story, where he lost his wife and four children to the sinking of a boat they boarded on an irregular migration journey in the Mediterranean, and the boat that Wissam boarded on September 20 had set off from Tripoli on a trip to Europe, but sank off the Syrian island of Arwad.

The WFP team was also able to gain access to the operations of human smuggling networks through two of their members, one of whom – whom the team met in northern Lebanon – reported that he was detained by the security authorities for only hours, and then released for lack of evidence.

The smuggler spoke about the cooperation of people in the security services with smugglers, and facilitating smuggling operations for them, such as informing them of the movement of maritime security patrols, the best areas from which irregular migration processions should be launched, and the best routes to take before reaching territorial waters, in exchange for large sums of money.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that 84% of irregular migrants who died at sea remain unidentified, and did not rule out that the actual number of deaths due to irregular migration within the Middle East and North Africa region is much higher than announced.