Iraqi Refugees Trying to Adjust to Syria

A man about to enter a shop in Damascus Syria, Sunday, Oct. 22, 2006. Iraqi shops are increasingly seen at a number of Damascus' suburbs with the names of some Iraqi cities on their facades. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees reported this month that at least 914,000 Iraqis have left their homes since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, with more than third fleeing since an increase in sectarian bloodshed at the start of this year. (AP Photo / Bassem Tellawi). (Bassem Tellawi - AP)

DAMASCUS, Syria -- Mohammed al-Mawla is adjusting to life in his new home as an Iraqi refugee living in Syria. He operates an Internet cafe outside of Damascus and sends his two children to Syrian public schools.

He fled the violence in his homeland in 2003 and is now one of more than 500,000 Iraqis living in Syria _ a number that is growing by tens of thousands each month, according to the U.N.

But al-Mawla, 42, fears the comfort he has found in Syria could quickly disappear if the money he has saved runs out.

"I sold my car in Iraq and used the money to open the cafe here, but the money I am making is hardly enough to survive on. I am scared for the future," he said.

Though Iraqis who have fled to Syria receive Syrian government health care and their children are permitted to attend school, Syria does not issue them work permits and many are unemployed or work illegally.

As a result, many say the money they have saved is quickly dwindling. Their plight is not likely to ease, with more Iraqis arriving every day.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees reported this month that at least 914,000 Iraqis have left their homes since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, with more than third fleeing since an increase in sectarian bloodshed at the start of this year.

Syria and Jordan have received a majority of the displaced who left Iraq, with at least 40,000 Iraqis arriving in Syria every month for the last four months, the agency said. More than 500,000 Iraqis live in Syria, many of them refugees like al-Mawla who fled after 2003.

According to a report released this month by the UNHCR, the U.N. Children's Fund and the World Food Program, 48 percent of the Iraqi refugees in Syria are children, 90 percent fled because of security fears, 58 percent are Shiite and a majority are from Baghdad.

One 37-year-old Iraqi refugee living in Syria, who asked to remain anonymous for fear that relatives still living in Iraq would be harmed, said he left Iraq last year after his family started receiving threats from militias.

Though he said he feels comfortable in Syria because the Iraqi dialect of Arabic and traditions are familiar, he worries that the money he makes working at a pickle shop near Damascus will not cover food and rent on the home he shares with his brother.

"We worry about the future. ... No solution to the Iraqi issue seems near," he said.