The bad news: Syria becomes an ever-greater tragedy
The civil war in Syria has now been running inexorably for three years. In that time:
- At least 150,000 people have been killed.
- The total number of deaths could be about 22o,000.
- Half the population is believed to have fled their homes.
- The total number of refugees is around 2.5 million.
- One million of the Syrian refugees are in Lebanon.
- Syrian refugees make up a quarter of Lebanon’s resident population.
- The situation in Lebanon is the highest per capita concentration of refugees worldwide.
My wife and I visited Syria and Lebanon a couple of weeks before the civil war broke out. We are probably going to be among the last tourists to Syria in a generation.
You can read the account of our trip here.