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Syria: A complicated relationship

Matthew Hay Brown, for the Pulitzer Center
Damascus, Syria

The relationship between Iraqi refugees and their hosts in Syria and Jordan is complicated.

On the one hand, I have heard much talk of Arab brotherhood among both officials and ordinary people in the two countries. On the other, Iraqis in both countries are blamed for rising prices and housing costs.

Salaam Marougi says he understands the negative reactions he occasionally encounters.

"There's no shame in being annoyed by high prices," the Iraqi Christian told me today in Jaramana, a suburb or Damascus with a high conentration of refugees. "We are like guests who have stayed too long."