In the village of Saadnayel in the Bekaa Valley, 25-year-old Mohammed Hoss says refugees now outnumber locals. Around the village, there is no one whose state of mind has been unaffected by the refugee crisis, and the tension, having built up week after week, is now palpable. Hoss himself might not be here were it not for the fact that the Lebanese economy has been stuttering for more than a year. A mechanical engineering graduate, he says he and his peers find it nearly impossible to find jobs in their field. Thus, in absence of qualified employment offers, he runs a small shisha cafe, where he actually benefits from the influx of Syrians willing to work for less than the locals. Related articles: Lebanon’s Syria response in crisis Interactive map of Syrian refugees in Lebanon He employs both a Syrian and a Lebanese worker, but pays the Syrian
