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In Lebanon, Syrian Refugees Put Political Differences Aside

Syrian refugees in Lebanon try to avoid the divisions that are fueling the war at home.

Syrian refugees work to help produce concrete blocks in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon September 21, 2013. Female Syrian refugees of the Masari family, who fled from the Aleppo countryside in Syria a year ago, worked alongside their husbands in the concrete producing factory owned by a Lebanese man, according to the workers. Each Syrian couple produces 700 concrete blocks a day and earns a combined wage of $50, the refugees said. Picture taken September 21, 2013.    REUTERS/Jamal Saidi (LEBANON - Tags: BUSINESS CONS
Syrian refugees work to help produce concrete blocks in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, Sept. 21, 2013. — REUTERS/Jamal Saidi

BEIRUT — Sitting in the garage they rent in Lebanon's Bekaa, Ahmed, Mohammed and Miriam discuss politics yet again. They may be brothers and sisters, but their opinions toward the Syrian civil war could not be more opposed. Ahmed, the eldest at 38, supports the Free Syrian Army (FSA), while Miriam, 36, favors the government. Mohammed, the youngest, wishes for an Islamic state to be established in Syria. What is in this improvised house a calm debate and the subject of jokes has been fueling a bloody civil war for 2½ years.

"We cannot really have an argument; our sister is too stubborn and will always have the upper hand, she runs everything in this house!" joke the two brothers.

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