Forgotten Tribes of Lebanon’s Wadi Khaled Thrive on Smuggling of Goods to Syria

Trapped in this northern Lebanese valley, a forgotten community living by tribal traditions thrives on smuggling goods across the river to Syria.

Despite the affluence this has brought, the Bedouins of Wadi Khaled feel as if they are prisoners in their own land, captive because of a historical mishap that left them with no citizenship rights. Their status has been “under study” since 1968.

More than 50 years ago, the tribes’ fear of officials drove the people to hide in the woods. They missed Lebanon’s only official census, conducted in 1932 when the country was still under French mandate. No population count has been carried out since, so the status of the residents of Wadi Khaled is still pending.

Abu Mustapha, clad in traditional Arab headdress and gray gallabia , or ankle-length shirt, said the tribesmen mistook census officials for envoys of the Ottoman Empire authorities.

“They hid in the woods because they were afraid their children would be drafted into the Ottoman army. They were illiterate people and did not understand that we were not under Ottoman rule anymore,” said Abu Mustapha.

The Bedouins of Wadi Khaled hold residence permits, issued to all foreigners living in Lebanon, and a document which classifies them in a “citizenship under study” category.

Unlike Palestinians and other refugees in Lebanon who have a special travel document, these tribesmen have no passports and can travel almost nowhere. Syria is the only country that allows them inside its borders, just for brief visits.

“We have become prisoners in our own land,” said Sweid.

The people of Wadi Khaled--named after Khaled Ibn al-Walid, who drove out the Byzantine Christians--are divided into tribes who trace their origin to what is now Saudi Arabia.

Until the 1960s, they raised sheep in the bare rugged hills nearby. Then they turned to trade.

“We are on the border between a socialist country (Syria) and a country that believes in free trade (Lebanon),” said Bashir Hammoud.

Syria has strict import controls and the smuggled traffic across the Nahr el-Bared river into the country includes television sets, radios, videos, fruit, vegetables, canned food, coffee, sugar, building material, clothes and shoes.

Wadi Khaled’s marketplace, Al-Arida, is a favorite of Syrian families, with prices given in Syrian pounds that the merchants later change to dollars at the rate of 46 to a dollar.

“We sell here what Syrians can only buy on the black market in their country. Everything they do not have they buy here,” said Hammoud.

The Ghannam tribe, the largest and most influential, boasts that its standard of living is higher than that of many people in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

Most of its members live in spacious cement houses with almost no furniture. They traditionally prefer sitting on the floor.

Khaled Sweid, who holds a degree in mathematics, estimated that each family in the Ghannam tribe earned an average of about $200 per month compared to the national minimum wage of $30 per month.

The residents of Wadi Khaled, all Sunni Muslims, have pleaded their case with all the governments that have ruled Lebanon since independence in 1943, but to no avail.

Christian politicians, who hold key posts in the government, have resisted naturalizing 10,000 Muslims because it could upset the sectarian balance in the country.

“Our plight became the subject of bickering among politicians,” said a Ghannam tribesman, one of a group squatting in a smoke-filled room and sharing a meal of lamb and rice.

“The solution for us lies with the Lebanese government. But now which one do we turn to?”