Since the days of the Civil War, Lebanon has suffered from the Syrian regime and its actions. Since part of the Lebanese political class was unpatriotic, Damascus managed to increase the level of division, corruption, sectarianism, murder and bomb attacks during the period of Syria's occupation of Lebanon. Syria's army finally left Lebanon after the country's true intifada of 2005, which followed the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and a string of crimes against the martyrs of Lebanon's uprising against Syrian occupation: Samir Kassir, Gebran Tueni, George Hawi, Pierre Gemayel, and many more. Today, as the Syrian regime's army kills and oppresses the Syrian people, Lebanon faces a new predicament. A huge number of displaced Syrians – according to official statistics more than 200,000 people, although it is estimated that it is double that figure – have entered Lebanon, fleeing the fighting and monstrous bombing in their country. Syria certainly opened its doors to the Lebanese in 2006, during Israel's monstrous offensive against their country. In the same way, Lebanon has a humanitarian responsibility to receive refugees from Syrian shelling and violence. It is a huge problem, in all of its aspects. The Lebanese government has come up short on all fronts when it comes to the Lebanese, such as providing regular electricity, job opportunities or wage levels to allow people to live a dignified life. The despair in Lebanon is catching. How many families have the capacity to purchase an electricity generator, or pay for the medical and hospital fees for youngsters and the elderly? Some ministers in the Lebanese government suffer from psychological problems that lead them to reject the idea of organizing camps to receive the Syrian refugees for a certain period of time, before they return to their country. These Lebanese are obsessed with the Palestinian refugee camps in their country, and the fear that the Palestinians might be permanently settled here. But Syrian refugees are not like the Palestinians, because the Syrian regime will not continue; Syria is a promising and rich country that will recover after its regime collapses. However, the government then agreed to host some refugee camps, which took shape thanks to donations from some countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Norway. But things in Lebanon are so dysfunctional that some influential people told Al-Hayat that they have been trying to get tents for Syrian refugees out of Beirut Port since November, when the materials first arrived there. It is certain that the refugee situation is catastrophic, and Al-Hayat visited a camp in the Bekaa Valley, which is called a reception center. It is the result of a grant from Saudi Arabia in the village of al-Marj, and has about 18 families living in tents in the bitter cold of winter. According to the town's mayor, Imad Shammouri, families with nowhere to live have arrived, and are provided with blankets, heaters, food and electricity, so that they can make do elsewhere. Shammouri says that they leave the center, which is a camp (but does not use this term) to look for a place to reside. While Al-Hayat was visiting the center, a Syrian approached the mayor and asked for his help in finding a job. Unlike the refugee flows into Turkey and Jordan, the wave of displacement into Lebanon is not regulated; this has prompted Syrians to head for Beirut and other cities, in search of jobs, while some resort to begging. One often hears about Lebanese complaining that Syrians are driving them out of the labor market, because Syrians accept lower wages. Wherever there are bakeries, construction sites and public parks, one finds many Syrian workers, who were in the country prior to the war in Syria. Some people in Lebanon claim that there is a “plot," and that the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people to the cities is a catastrophe because of the resulting large-scale social problems, such as theft and other activities. Certainly, there is a bit of exaggeration going on, even though Lebanon's predicament is real. There is political dysfunction in the government, and its failure to provide the minimum level of requirements of the Lebanese only increases the anxiety of the Lebanese, who for long suffered from the Syrian regime and its clients in Lebanon. In order to help Syrian refugees and help Lebanon directly, there should be an organized, region-wide plan to deal with them, and not just via a government that suffers from internal disputes and is late to provide assistance. A donors' conference in Kuwait later this month should speed this up because conditions are intolerable as they are and in any event, Lebanon suffered from the Syrian regime. Assistance is also urgently needed from the west; there should be coordination between the Arabs and the west so that this assistance arrives promptly and directly via a government relief body that is effective and independent from the corruption and dysfunction. This will help Lebanon deal with the burdens of displacement and the Syrian catastrophe, helping Syrian refugees and rescuing them from their deteriorating conditions.
