Today marks the second anniversary of the Syrian uprising. Lebanon now hosts almost 400,000 registered Syrian refugees, but the real number of Syrians here is over 1m. Imagine the impact of 15m refugees in the UK.
Lebanon, lashed to Syria by history and geography, has responded with extraordinary generosity. With camps avoided for political reasons, it is families and communities who have shouldered the burden. Local schools and hospitals play their part – I met one teacher last week whose class has swelled from 16 to 38.
Parts of the international community have tried to help, and it is heartening to see British aid making a difference, in support of the UN effort. We are working flat out with the government, other donors, and NGOs. But the honest reality is that we are barely scratching the surface. Shamefully, most pledges made at the Kuwait conference have yet to materialise. The system cannot cope.
Syria contagion also hits Lebanon in other ways. Violence has spilled over the borders, and some have sought to ignite clashes in the Palestinian camps or on the fault lines between Sunni and Shia communities. Until now, the main columns of Lebanese society – the army, banks and an elastic political system – are proving more resilient than many predicted. After all, the Lebanese know better than anyone both the depth of Syrian regime brutality and the cost of division. But again, the strain is proving hard to bear. Britain is helping through increased support for the army, through projects in the Palestinian camps, and an active role in the relentless round of politics required to maintain consensus on Lebanese stability. The longer the Syria crisis lasts, the harder it will be to find thumbs for all the holes in the dyke.
Two years on, it is all too easy to feel ground down. Our Syria experts send daily updates cataloguing the relentless numbers: death, torture, displacement. The Save the Children report is a powerful reminder of the daily cost of the conflict. The stories of many we have met are seared on our consciousness. When diplomatic initiatives fall again and again on stony ground – and the Security Council has comprehensively failed the Syrians and Palestinians here in Lebanon – we get frustrated and despondent. But we are no less determined to end this crisis than we were two years ago. And we are spurred on by that most undiplomatic of characteristics: rage.