Under Pressure: the impact of the Syrian refugee crisis on host communities in Lebanon

By Tim Midgley, Johan Eldebo, Amir Amarani and Nadene Robertson

The Syrian conflict is increasingly affecting everyday life in Lebanon and other neighbouring countries. Lebanon now has more than half a million Syrian refugees, with more arriving every day. By Christmas 2013, it is predicted that one in three people in Lebanon could be a refugee.

This report examines the resulting pressure on healthcare, education and electricity that is now being felt by Lebanese families who opened their doors to offer food and shelter to refugees, and who now face their own crisis. And inevitably it’s the children in these families who bear the brunt of this crisis. 

The international community has responded to this crisis largely by helping the refugees. Aid will be most effective and help create good relations between communities when given to those most in need, regardless of where they are from.

The problems in Lebanon require not only aid but also a peaceful solution to the crisis in Syria.