The international road leading to the Aboudiyeh border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, is witnessing a huge traffic jam of hundreds of cars, trucks and buses on the Lebanese side of the border starting from the entrance to the town of Sheikh Ayash, to Aboudiyeh border crossing.

This traffic jam is attributed to New Year holiday, where tens of thousands of Syrian workers leave Lebanon to spend the holiday with their families.

Sources in Lebanon estimate that about 500,000 to 1 million Syrians work in the country. In Beirut, Syrian workers can earn twice what they make in their own country. Jobs in Lebanon reduce unemployment in Syria and the remittances of these workers to their families back home are estimated in the billions of US dollars per year.