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This Friday, March 25, 2016 photo, shows a cardboard box with money and praying beads belonging to a Syrian refugee woman who fled form her hometown Aleppo, on a sidewalk in Beirut, Lebanon. Begging is one of the most visible signs of the refugee crisis that has put an immense strain on neighboring countries and destabilized Europe. On Lebanon shopping streets, roundabouts and traffic lights, child beggars are seen pressing their small faces against windows of cars, stretching t...
In this Wednesday, March 16, 2016 photo, a Syrian refugee girl begs for money on a sidewalk outside a hospital in Beirut, Lebanon. It is one of the most visible signs of the refugee crisis that has put an immense strain on neighboring countries and destabilized Europe. On Lebanon shopping streets, roundabouts and traffic lights, child beggars are seen pressing their small faces against windows of cars, stretching their hands for money or selling chewing gum or flowers.
In this Tuesday, March 15, 2016 photo, a Syrian refugee woman holds her child as she begs for money on a sidewalk, in Beirut. Lebanon is home to more than 1 million registered Syrian refugees, or nearly a quarter of the country's 4.5 million people, the highest refugee population in the world per capita. It is one of the most visible signs of the refugee crisis that has put an immense strain on neighboring countries and destabilized Europe. On Lebanon shopping streets beggars ar...
In this Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016 photo, a Syrian refugee girl sits on the sidewalk with her mother as they beg for money, in Beirut, Lebanon. A study published last year by the International Labor Organization, UNICEF and the Save the Children charity organization found there are more than 1,500 children living or working on Lebanon's streets, nearly three-quarters of them Syrian and most making a living by begging.
In this Friday, March 25, 2016 photo, a Syrian refugee woman holds her child as she begs for money on a sidewalk, in Beirut. Lebanon is home to more than 1 million registered Syrian refugees, or nearly a quarter of the country's 4.5 million people, the highest refugee population in the world per capita.
In this Friday, March 25, 2016 photo, a Syrian refugee woman, right, and her children beg for money on a sidewalk, in Beirut, Lebanon. A study published last year by the International Labor Organization, UNICEF and the Save the Children charity organization found there are more than 1,500 children living or working on Lebanon's streets, nearly three-quarters of them Syrian and most making a living by begging or roadside vending.
In this Sunday, March 20, 2016 photo, a Syrian refugee woman begs on a sidewalk, in Beirut, Lebanon. It is one of the most visible signs of the refugee crisis that has put an immense strain on neighboring countries and destabilized Europe. Lebanon is home to more than 1 million registered Syrian refugees, equal to about a quarter of the Mediterranean country's 4.5 million people.
In this Tuesday, March 15, 2016 photo, a Syrian refugee woman holds her child as she begs for money on a sidewalk, in Beirut, Lebanon. It is one of the most visible signs of the refugee crisis that has put an immense strain on neighboring countries and destabilized Europe. On Lebanon shopping streets, roundabouts and traffic lights, child beggars are seen pressing their small faces against windows of cars, stretching their hands for money or selling chewing gum or flowers.
In this Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016 photo, a Syrian refugee woman begs for money in front of boutiques on a sidewalk, in Beirut, Lebanon. It is one of the most visible signs of the refugee crisis that has put an immense strain on neighboring countries and destabilized Europe. On Lebanon shopping streets, roundabouts and traffic lights, beggars are seen stretching their hands for money.
In this Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016 photo, a Syrian refugee girl begs for money in traffic, in Beirut, Lebanon. A study published last year by the International Labor Organization, UNICEF and the Save the Children charity organization found there are more than 1,500 children living or working on Lebanon's streets, nearly three-quarters of them Syrian and most making a living by begging or roadside vending.
A Syrian teenager with dark curly hair spends his days hanging around a busy thoroughfare in western Beirut,
chasing motorists and following shoppers to ask for money. Further down on Hamra Street, his mother and three younger
siblings also have their spots, begging for a living.
Mohammad Hussein, 13, is among the hundreds of thousands of Syrians who fled their country's devastating civil war, now in
its sixth year, for refuge next door in tiny Lebanon. Many of the youngest are now out of school and have to work or beg to
support their families.
Their plight is one of the most visible signs of the unprecedented refugee crisis that has put an immense strain on
neighboring Mideast countries and destabilized Europe. On shopping streets, roundabouts and traffic lights in Beirut and
elsewhere in Lebanon, child beggars are seen, pressing their small faces against car windows, stretching their hands out for
money or selling chewing gum or flowers for a few coins.
"I wish I could go back to school, I liked school when I was in Syria," Hussein says. "But now I can't, I am the eldest and I
must support my mother and sisters."
Not only is begging dangerous — Hussein was recently detained by police for 10 days — but he also sometimes has to suffer
insults from strangers he begs from.
"Some people ... curse me and my people and my country," he says.
Lebanon is home to more than 1 million registered Syrian refugees — equal to about a quarter of the Mediterranean country's
4.5 million people. It's the highest refugee population in the world per capita. Lebanon says that another half a million
Syrians live in the country as well, unregistered, and officials say their presence has generated a severe burden that
Lebanon can no longer handle alone.
A study published last year by the International Labor Organization, UNICEF and the Save the Children charity found that more
than 1,500 children live or work on Lebanon's streets, nearly three quarters of them Syrians who mostly beg for money or sell
trinkets by the roadside.
Hussein's family fled their home in the mountains of Syria's Latakia province three years ago. He says he is happy in Lebanon
but wishes he could go back to play with his neighborhood friends.
In Beirut, the teen says he makes between 15 and 20 dollars a day, depending on his luck that day.
"Nobody gives me work because I am too young," he says. "This way I can make more money than if I had a job."
AP/Hasan Ammar
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