‘Syria refugees’ hosts need more aid’

The United Nations has warned against “the most dramatic humanitarian crisis” in Syria, calling for more funding to help countries like Lebanon and Jordan, which are hosting millions of Syrian refugees.

“The host countries need and deserve much stronger financial support to their budgets to allow them to address the structural gaps,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres told an international conference in Berlin on Tuesday on the situation of Syrian refugees.

Noting that three million Syrian refugees leave “enormous” impacts on Syria’s neighbors, he said, “Economics, public services, the social fabric of communities and the welfare of families are all affected, not to mention the security impact of the Syrian conflict in the whole region.”

Guterres described the situation in Syria as “the most dramatic humanitarian crisis the world has faced in a very long time.”

Meanwhile, Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam also on Tuesday called on the UN to increase funding to boost Lebanon’s economic development.

“I would like…to call for the adoption of more concrete measures to increase funding for the purposes of development and to accelerate the resettlement of [Syrian] refugees,” Salam told the Berlin conference.

Salam also urged the UNHCR “to explore ways to enable the Syrian refugees to exercise their right to return to their homes. This … may prove to be the most appropriate and effective solution. “

“In order to reach an effective solution … we must focus on finding ways to encourage donors to increase their contributions to funding development projects aimed at the rehabilitation of public services and the expansion of educational and health institutions as well as promote stability,” Salam said.

He noted that Lebanon “is beyond its absorption capacities and urgently needs other countries to share its burden.”

More than 1.1 million Syrian refugees are currently taking shelter in Lebanon. The influx of Syrian refugees is exerting huge pressure on Lebanon’s poor infrastructure, education and health systems.

More than three million Syrians are said to have taken shelter in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq since the outset of the crisis in Syria in March 2011. Western powers and their regional allies – especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey – are the main supporters of the militants operating inside Syria.

SF/KA/SS