It was the first time that the two daughters of Hawra (29 years old) smelled gunpowder, heard the sounds of bombs and explosions, and saw with their own eyes the battles that raged in southern Lebanon. Less than a month later, the family found themselves in a Husseiniya in the middle of Khanaqin district in Diyala Province.
The Israeli missiles that fell in the vicinity of the city of Nabatieh in Lebanon forced Hawra and her husband to search for a safe haven for their two daughters.
Hawra's family used to live in the village of Ansar in the Nabatieh Province in southern Lebanon, which has become a hot zone in the war that broke out since last September between the Hezbollah and Israel. Tensions between the two sides have led to the displacement and migration of about a million Lebanese.
At the beginning of the crisis, Hawra's family fled to the Lebanese city of Sidon, which was relatively safe, but with the military escalation and the intensification of raids, they headed to Mount Lebanon and stayed there for a week.
“Because Mount Lebanon is close to Beirut, we could hear explosions, so we didn’t feel safe, so we made the difficult decision and left Lebanon for Iraq.” Hawra’s husband’s family had arrived in Iraq a week before them.
“We didn’t want our children to see more scenes of war, it was difficult and painful because they had never seen war before,” Hawra bitterly said.
Hawra’s two daughters, Ruqayya (7 years old) and Fatima (4), arrived with their parents last weekend in Anbar province in western Iraq via the Qaim border crossing and were transferred from there to Khanaqin district.
Popular Mobilization Forces received the Lebanese refugees and transferred us by bus to Baquba and from there to Khanaqin
Hawra’s husband, Hussein Mohammed (38 years old), told KirkukNow, “At the Qaim border crossing, a Popular Mobilization Forces received the Lebanese refugees and transferred us by bus to Baquba and from there to Khanaqin.”
Registering the names of Lebanese refugees in the Imam Hassan al-Mujtaba Husseiniya in Khanaqin, Diyala, October 26, 2024. Amir Khanaqini
Hawra’s family was housed in the Imam Hassan al-Mujtaba Husseiniya in the Ali Murad neighborhood in central Khanaqin. The Husseiniya has become a center for sheltering Lebanese refugees.
“They welcomed us warmly, even though the town’s residents are Kurds, but they did their job of hospitality to the fullest,” Hawra says.
27 refugee families have arrived in Husseiniya in the past three days.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR, after the military escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, 16,727 Lebanese refugees have arrived in Iraq, the vast majority of whom entered through the Qaim border crossing, and some through airports.
Mohammed used to work as a cook in a Lebanese hotel but lost his job when the war broke out.
When they left the village, it never occurred to Hawra’s family to head to Iraq, “We thought we would be back in a few days, so we left even our passports at home.”
So when the family members arrived in Syria, they were able to obtain travel documents through the Lebanese embassy and then entered Iraq.
So far, 27 refugee families have arrived in Khanaqin district, which is considered one of the disputed areas between the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government KRG.
The locals have open doors for refugees as people of Khanaqin witnessed wars and been displaced more than once.
Mansour Haider, a resident of Khanaqin, said that when he learned of the arrival of Lebanese refugees in Khanaqin, he visited the Husseiniya to offer assistance.
He met Hawra’s family and decided to house them on the second floor of his house.
“The floor consists of two furnished rooms. I told them that they are yours until you return to your homes,” Mansour said. “As a Kurdish citizen, I have tasted the bitterness of displacement, so I decided to fulfill my humanitarian duty towards them.”
Saif Omar, the Director of Migration and Displacement in Diyala Province, told (KirkukNow) that his department is registering the names of Lebanese refugees through four mobile teams, noting that more families are arriving in the Province every day, with their number reaching 100 families so far.
“The General Authority of the Popular Mobilization Forces supervises the process of distributing refugees to the Provinces at the border crossings... We do not have information on how the refugees are distributed,” he continued,
According to (KirkukNow) follow-ups, as soon as the displaced arrive in Diyala, the Popular Mobilization Forces PMF, a pro-Iran Shiite paramilitary group known as al-Hashid al-Sha’bi, receive them and distribute them to the regions in coordination with the Logistics Services Authority.
Hussein al-Mandlawi, the imam and preacher of the Imam Hassan al-Mujtaba Husseiniya, told (KirkukNow), "As the people of Khanaqin, we have fulfilled our humanitarian duty without paying attention to the religions and sects of these families."
"Khanaqin has always been a symbol of coexistence and relief for the afflicted," he added.
