UNDERSTANDING STATELESSNESS IN THE SYRIA REFUGEE CONTEXT  any literature dealing with cases of statelessness or the prevention of statelessness in Syria, so little is known about the issue in general. During this research, Maktoum Syrian refugees were identified in both Lebanon and Jordan. Rami, a refugee in Lebanon, is Maktoum due to the situation of his father’s grandfather. This ancestor’s first wife only gave permission for him to take a second wife under the assurance that the marriage would not be registered – so that the children of the second wife would not inherit. Because of this decision, decades later, Rami and his siblings were also never registered in the Syrian records, did not have ID cards and were Maktoum.225 Rusiya, a refugee in Jordan, tried to get an ID at the age of 16 in Syria, but the government office which she approached could not find her records. She has no idea why – the rest of her family were documented Syrian nationals. She obtained a taaref from the Mokhtar in her local village while she attempted to sort out her situation, but fled three years later – before she got a response from the authorities as to her nationality status. She has since approached the Syrian embassy in Amman to continue her quest to obtain an ID, and the embassy has informed her that they are not responsible for these matters. Residing in a Palestinian camp in the outskirts of Irbid, at the time of the interview in July 2016, she remained without any recognition from the Syrian authorities that she is a Syrian national. In Jordan, she gave birth to a son, who was able to acquire Jordanian nationality through his Jordanian father. 226 225 Interview with Rami, Tripoli Lebanon, June 2016. 226 Interview with Rusiya, Irbid Jordan, July 2016. RESEARCH REPORT 43