Lebanon must not be left to face Syria crisis alone

Today is World Refugee Day. The windy resort of Lough Erne in Northern Ireland this week must have felt far from the millions of Syrians whose lives have been ripped apart by conflict. Yet many of the G-8 leaders meeting there have seen the human impact for themselves. U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron’s focus on stopping the war in Syria is given greater urgency by conversations he had with Syrian refugees in Jordan.Samantha Cameron visited Lebanon this year in her capacity as an ambassador for Save the Children, and was moved by what she saw and heard.

There are 1.5 million Syrians in Lebanon, including over half a million registered refugees. This is like every American moving to China. Half are children. At this rate, the number registered will hit 1 million by the end of the year. The U.N. launched last week the largest ever humanitarian appeal, for a huge $1.7 billion.

I am proud that the U.K. used the G-8 summit to galvanize a response of $1.5 billion, including $300 million from the U.S., $275 million from Britain (our largest ever humanitarian announcement), $115 million from Canada, and $6.5 million from Russia. The EU has recently announced over $500 million in additional funding. We showed that a time of austerity has blunted neither our outrage nor our compassion. The U.K. contribution alone will reach 1 million people needing food, shelter, education, medicine, dignity.

No country is hosting more victims of the Syria conflict than Lebanon. No country has shown greater generosity, as communities and families make daily sacrifices for those who have been forced to flee. President Michel Sleiman urged international partners to respond. The G-8 now has.

In the coming weeks, we will explain how U.K. humanitarian support will directly help Syrians in Lebanon, and the Lebanese communities hosting them. We will also announce new support to the Army’s vital stabilization effort.

The impact of our help will be greatest if a consensual government is formed that can lead the response plan and get the nation behind the Army. It will make most difference in the context of a neutral Lebanon focused on Lebanese national interests.

Among the refugees from Syria are, of course, many from Palestine. Families displaced once again. They too have the right to be free from violence and poverty, to be seen as more than a security challenge. As UNSCR 194 states, they also have the right of return to their country, as part of a negotiated peace settlement.

All these relentless statistics can never capture the reality, nor the individual stories, of loss and displacement. Globally, there are more refugees than ever before. UNHCR is leading the international community’s response to the Syria humanitarian crisis. Please support their campaign, asking you to take one minute to support a family forced to flee.

Of course, all these efforts are important but insufficient while the conflict in Syria continues to rage. U.K. decisions are shaped above all by two factors: how best to protect civilians and how to get to a political rather than military solution.

So it was important for us that the G-8 kept the Geneva political process alive, and that it agreed on tackling the extremist minority among the opposition, thereby negating the regime’s propaganda about the West supporting terrorism. It also underlined the importance of the Syrian state remaining intact, so that the long, hard job of rebuilding Syria has a foundation.

The G-8 summit also exposed disagreements, including between some who see arming the regime as the solution and others who are providing aid to victims of the war.

Like Lough Erne, Lebanon can also feel windswept. Buffeted by international politics, by its neighbors, by inherent tensions, by those lacking the courage to coexist. It must not be left alone to cope with the challenges that the Syria crisis has created. The international community has an obligation to be at its side, in deeds not just words. Please hold us to that obligation.

Tom Fletcher is the British ambassador to Lebanon.