Aley, Lebanon: When Abu Ahmad decided three years ago to bring his eight-member family to Lebanon to protect them from the war raging in his homeland of Syria, he never thought he would regret it.

Ahmad’s family fled shelling by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad in 2011, but now they are chafing under a curfew on Syrians that forbids them from leaving their houses after 8 pm — a move that has been adopted by many local Lebanese authorities.

“I decided to take them all back and live under the shelling rather than being treated like a prisoner in a country that we always respected and worked in,” the 67-year-old farmer said.

For a Syrian construction worker who only would allow himself to be identified as Ahmad, the curfew meant medical care was delayed last week for his 7-year-old daughter, who had a high fever. He said he decided to wait until the morning to take her to a doctor to avoid any problems with police.

“If we walk [outside] after 8 in the evening, the municipality police will catch us and interrogate us, or in some municipalities, they will make us pay a fine,” Ahmad said.

“We usually finish work at 4 and rush to finish our shopping and errands before 8,” he said.

For Abu Ahmad and many other Syrians, these curfews, which last until 6 am, mean “your freedom is restricted.”

The curfews began being implemented a month ago after Islamist militants fighting in Syria crossed the border in August and engaged in deadly clashes for several days with the Lebanese Army.

The gunmen captured 17 soldiers and police officers and have executed three of them, fuelling rage among the Lebanese.

“Some Lebanese are avenging their anger against all the refugees just because some terrorists clashed with the Lebanese Army, but we civilians have nothing to do with those terrorists,” Syrian refugee Abu Sulaiman said.

“We did not plan to come here and live as refugees,” he said. “The war forced us to leave our country.”

He also lashed out at the lack of hospitality after Syria received thousands of refugees during Israel’s 2006 war on Lebanon, saying, “We opened our houses for them, and we did not impose any curfews.”

Mayors in Lebanon justified the restrictions as being in the interests of the refugees.

“By imposing such curfews, we are protecting the refugees and also are watching the security situation in the country,” said Zuheir Al Kuntar, a municipal councillor in Aley province near Beirut.

But Human Rights Watch said the curfews “are just contributing to an increasingly hostile environment for Syrian refugees in the country.”

Lama Fakih, Syria and Lebanon researcher at the human rights group, said about 45 towns and villages in Lebanon have unilaterally implemented curfews and no curfews have been ordered by the Lebanese government or Interior Ministry.

“The authorities have presented no evidence that curfews for Syrian refugees are necessary for public order or security in Lebanon,” Fakih said.

More than 1.1 million Syrian refugees are living in Lebanon, which has a population of 4 million citizens. Lebanon is considering closing its border with Syria to halt the influx from the neighbouring country, which exercised enormous influence over Lebanese government policy and stationed troops in Lebanon for 29 years.

Syria pulled its troops out of Lebanon in 2005 after the assassination of Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri. Damascus was widely blamed for the killing, a charge it has consistently denied, but tensions remain.

The Syrian refugees “are guests here, and they should respect the rules as we did when they [Syrian troops] ruled us for 30 years with an iron fist,” said Mohaab Zeineddine, a Lebanese national.