Hassan and Saba al-Jedwa's five children play in the gravel at Minia Syrian refugee camp - a collection of cramped white tents off the main highway on the outskirts of northern Lebanese city Tripoli. Aid cuts have aggravated their already squalid living conditions, and have pushed some of Lebanon's 1.2 million Syrian refugees to seek illegal passage to Europe, including by sea. But widely-broadcast footage of dead children lying on the shores of Mediterranean islands or dying in trucks on Europe's mainland are putting off those who might already have fled. "There's no aid here, and no prospects," said 43-year-old Hassan, trying to console a wailing toddler. "If there were a chance to migrate safely, we would. But not illegally. We're scared after seeing what's happened in Europe - many people have died doing that." Hassan and his family fled western Homs province at the start of Syria's four-year-old civil war, heading for Lebanon, where many Syrians would like to move on from a deepening refugee crisis. "I'd take my children and go today if there were a legal and organized way to emigrate," his wife, Saba, said. "But we've heard the stories about people traveling illegally, and children dying on those journeys. I would not take that risk with my children, so for now we're confined to this camp." Deteriorating conditions for the nearly four million Syrian refugees living in neighboring countries have pushed many to seek asylum in Europe, as record numbers of migrants have headed for its shores. More than 2,500 migrants have died in a number of smuggling incidents at sea and on land. AID CUTS At Minia camp, residents said some 400 people live in 32 tents, which consist of little more than mats for furniture and gas canisters for cooking. Severe lack of funding has forced the UN to scale back aid this year, with the World Food Program cutting by half the amount of food assistance it can give to hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees in the region. In Lebanon, many refugees are receiving half their initial food entitlement at $13.5 per month, and some say they are getting nothing at all. "When we first arrived we were getting aid and pre-paid food vouchers, but then the value of that went down and now there's nothing for many people," said Thiryal Qasim Dibis, another Minia resident. She said impoverished refugees who cannot afford to renew six-month residency permits face arrests by Lebanese security forces, discouraging men to go out in search of work. In addition, growing hostility against refugee populations in the region has led to an increase in physical attacks on Syrians in Lebanon. "NO OTHER CHOICE" While many are unwilling to risk dangerous migration routes, others see no other choice. Images of dead refugees have failed to deter 35-year-old mother-of-two Manal al-Naji, a resident of al-Baddawi Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli - a concrete jungle that is now hosting thousands of additional Syrian Palestinians who have fled the conflict, according to a camp official. "I want to migrate, even if it's dangerous," Manal said, crouching on a thin mattress in her windowless living room. "I never thought I would one day be willing to put my four-year-old daughter at risk. We hear about many, many people who drown trying to make the journey. But our situation gives us no other choice." Manal has contacted smugglers, seeking to travel by boat from Tripoli to Turkey, but still cannot afford the $2,000 fee. According to Baddawi camp officials, some 200 families have sought to be smuggled towards Europe, with the fate of many unknown. A middleman involved in smuggling operations from Tripoli, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a number of journeys had been organized from the port city, with Palestinian and Syrian refugees making up the majority of people traveling. They will pay thousands of dollars to try and reach Europe, he said. But the dangers faced in smuggling journeys are becoming ever more apparent as the numbers of refugees increase. Back at Minia, 65-year-old Yusef Mustafa said most were no longer willing to take the risk. "It's better for me to stay here than to die," he said.
