July 2015, Issue 12
       
               


As the Syrian crisis enters its fifth year unabated, the scale of humanitarian need is approaching levels not seen since World War II. Governments and international aid organizations described it as the "most challenging refugee crisis in a generation."
 
In August 2014, the UN declared Iraq to have reached a "level 3 emergency" ranking it as the "highest global humanitarian priority for the UN and partner agencies." The situation in Iraq had been steadily deteriorating overtime, reaching its worst by the advance of ISIS in western and northern Iraq.

Who is ISIS?
ISIS (The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria), also known as ISIL (The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) and IS (Islamic State), emerged in Iraq and Syria, adding to the already existing damage.  

A former ISIS fighter in Turkey reported to CNN that, "the main and principal goal of the Islamic State that they tell their new members is to establish an Islamic state that will encompass the Arab world, and after that, "we go to other countries.""

 

How is ISIS funded?

ISIS operates as a charitable religious organization and is constantly looking for wealthy donors in the Gulf States and throughout the globe. ISIS also has ways of gathering illegal funds. In 2012, ISIS took control over several oil fields in Syria. Consequently, selling deeply discounted oil and gas has become a major source of income. Moreover, it has traded and sold raw materials in areas that it has captured, and even sold antiquities and historical monuments under its control.

 

Not only did the war and the emergence of ISIS affect Syria and Iraq, but also various other countries in the Middle East. In this issue of VOME, Voice of the Middle East, which is a part of GSM, George Saad Ministries, we will provide you with solid facts about the repercussions of the Syrian war and the presence of ISIS in the Middle East in general, and Lebanon in particular.

 

Since the outbreak of the Civil war in Syria in March 2011, 12.2 million people are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance; 9.8 million require food assistance and 7.6 million are internally displaced. There are over 4 million registered Syrian refugees with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) hosted by countries such as Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. 

Turkey whose area is 783,562 km2 hosts the largest number of refugees reaching a current total of 1,758,092. 
However, Lebanon a small country of 10,452 km2 with a population of approximately 4.5 million prior to the Syrian crisis now holds the highest concentration per capita of refugees in the world, with over a third of its population comprised of refugees and asylum seekers. 
 
As the chart shows:

  1. 60.85%   Lebanese 
  2. 6.62%      Palestinian
  3. 25.9%      Syrian
  4. 1.47%      Iraqi
  5. 5.16%      Foreigners




  

  

Syrian refugees now make up over a quarter of Lebanon's population. 

"One in four persons living in Lebanon is displaced from Syria."

                 

The huge influx of refugees has caused deterioration in the economic situation of the majority of the population (especially in regions with higher presence of refugees) without any interference from the Lebanese government to help solve this problem. 

 

 

 

TREA, The Rock Eternal Association, also part of GSM, has been providing humanitarian aid to Syrian and Iraqi refugees in the most vulnerable areas of Dekwaneh, Jdeideh, Fanar, and Baouchrieh in Beirut, Hermel in the Bekaa, and Tripoli in the North.  

 

 
Through your donations and partnerships, our ministry has made sure to reach refugees within the most vulnerable localities.


We thank you for being a partner in the great humanitarian work we are doing in Lebanon and the Middle East.

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