Four years of death, destruction and diaspora for Syrians
The week 15-21 March 2011 – exactly four years ago – is considered by the media to mark the beginning of the Syrian civil war or uprising.
Since then, an estimated 220,000 have died. Nearly seven million have fled their homes but remain within the country. Some four million are living in camps in the neighbouring countries of Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey in what is the world’s worst refugee crisis since the end of the Second World War.
The UK’s is top of the donor league table, providing £800 million. But many countries need to do so much, much more and the UN Security Council needs to be much more decisive.
Vee and I were on holiday in Syria from 3-9 March 2011 before spending a few days in Lebanon. We were among the last tourists to the country for probably a generation. If you want to know what the place was like before it descended into civil war, you can read my account here.