Victims, refugees, devastation: the math of Syria's war and its tragic repercussions for Lebanon
Beirut (AsiaNews/Agencies) - The uprising against President Bashar al-Assad has become a full-blown civil war. In three years, more than 150,000 have been killed, millions more have been displaced and an entire nation lies in ruins.
The conflict, which began in March 2011 as a peaceful rising against the regime, triggered a bloody crackdown that escalated into open warfare with the civilian population paying the highest price.
And now, the war's impact is being felt across the Middle East, in particular in Lebanon, where the bulk of the refugees fled. According to the latest estimates, more than one million Syrian refugees are now in that country.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has documented the death of 150,344 in the conflict, about a third, 51,212, were civilians, including 7,985 children.
The war, which at first pitted the regime against the rebels, has become over time more and more complex and articulated with the arrival of Islamist militants, jihadists and foreign mercenaries fighting on the side of the opposition.
According to reports by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), more than half a million people have been wounded; at least 17,000 people have disappeared whilst "tens of thousands" are detained in government prisons.
Child welfare advocates note that the number of war-affected children has doubled in three years, reaching 5.5 million; one million children are also living in areas "under siege or unreachable" by humanitarian groups or organisations.
Women are also victims of sexual violence: raped, abused in prison, used as human shields or seized to humiliate or blackmail their families.
The latest United Nations figures show that three years of war have devastated Syria, with "catastrophic" effects on the country's social, economic and cultural life.
About 40 per cent of all hospitals have been destroyed, with another 20 per cent operating below capacity.
The country's gross domestic product (GDP) is down by 45 per cent and its currency lost 80 per cent of its value.
Refugees are an even greater concern with 2.6 abroad and 6.5 internationally displaced.
Among those outside Syria, more than a million are in Lebanon, followed by Turkey (634,000), Jordan (just over 584,000), Iraq (227,000) and Egypt (135,000).
The war in Syria is spreading across the region with one country, Lebanon, bearing the brunt, its hands full with an unprecedented humanitarian emergency.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCHR), refugees from Syria now equal one-quarter of the resident population, with over 220 Syrian refugees for every 1,000 Lebanese residents.
"The Lebanese people have shown striking generosity," UNHCR official said; however, they "are struggling to cope." In view of the burden on Lebanon, "We cannot let it shoulder this burden alone,".
In fact, Syria's western neighbour has felt serious economic shocks, from a decline in trade, tourism and investment, to an increase in public expenditures.
The World Bank estimates that the Syrian crisis has cost Lebanon US$ 2.5 billion in lost economic activity last year.
With wages plummeting due to greater labour supply, many families are struggling to make ends meet, and the crisis threatens to push 170,000 Lebanese into poverty by the end of this year.
"Support to Lebanon," the UN official said, "is not only a moral imperative, but it is also badly needed to stop the further erosion of peace and security in this fragile society, and indeed the whole region."
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