BENGHAZI, Libya, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Many Syrian refugees, fearful of President Bashar Assad, say they are making difficult bus trips to Libya.
Libya only recently threw off the rule of Moammar Gadhafi.
Thousands have fled to neighboring countries. But they say Assad's secret police can track them there, especially in Lebanon, which continues to support the Syrian regime.
"Libya is free now. There is no secret police to watch you move," a refugee in Libya who refused to give his name told The Daily Telegraph.
Getting from Syria to Libya by bus takes more than four days, riding across Lebanon and Egypt to Benghazi.
"Up to 4,000 Syrian families have sought refuge in Libya in the last weeks, and the numbers are increasing every day" said Dr. Mohammed Jammal, a Syrian living in Benghazi. "The buses arrive full and go back empty. There used to be two a week, but now there are two a day."
Jammal said it has become harder to find places for the newly arrived to live in Benghazi.
The new Libyan government, which has recognized the opposition Syrian National Council, says refugees will be welcome. New temporary homes are being built in a refugee camp in Benghazi that already shelters 120,000 people displaced by the Libyan civil war.
"We have 26 Syrian families that are being sent here," the manager, Ibrahim al Asfour, said. "And we expect many more."
