In Lebanon, Mia Farrow Appeals for Help for Syria Refugees
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Hollywood actress Mia Farrow appealed on Tuesday for the international community to do more for Syrian refugees after making a two-day visit to camps in Lebanon ravaged by winter storms.
Farrow, a goodwill ambassador for U.N. children's agency UNICEF, said that 75 percent of Syrian refugees in Lebanon were women and children, and that they were the "most vulnerable victims" of the conflict raging since March 2011.
"Through no fault of their own these people have fled the horror, leaving everything they loved and knew behind, and these are the most vulnerable victims of a war that is not of their making," she told reporters in Beirut.
Farrow said the living conditions of the refugees in Lebanon were "dire".
"People are living in a foot of mud," she said, adding: "I was cold, and I had a coat."
Farrow's visit to Syrian refugees in the eastern Bekaa valley and the northern Wadi Khaled region came after one of the region’s worst storms in years flooded camps and sent temperatures plummeting.
"You can scarcely imagine being in a country that isn't your own, having seen your own homeland destroyed and then not having clothes for your children... then these storms came and another one is coming," said Farrow.
"It is an almost biblical conflation of tragedies and disasters."
But the actress said that while there were some tensions between the refugees and host communities, she had been heartened by the readiness of Lebanese to open up their homes.
She said she had met one couple with three children of their own who had taken in five Syrian families in their three-room home.
Lebanon hosts 197,624 Syrian refugees who are registered or awaiting registration, according to the United Nations.
Lebanon appealed on Sunday for $180 million from Arab countries to help it meet the Syrian refugee influx that has threatened to bring the number of the displaced to 420,000 in June, as the Arab League decided to send a team to Syria's neighboring countries to assess the status of refugees ahead of a donor conference in Kuwait on January 30.
16 January 2013, 04:39
53
bigjohn is not qawmi, he is Marxist/Arab nationalist. In other words he was an enemy of the Lebanese State in 1975 and was cheering the PLO against the Lebanese army in the 1973 clashes between the two. He Supports Naser over Chamoun, Assad against any Lebanese president. With thousands other Lebanese non-citizens like him any wonder Lebanon degenerated to its current miserable state
16 January 2013, 07:05
13
You are absolutely right Big John, you are so right that the proof is with those who are attacking you for saying the truth. Even we in Lebanon who have seen the plight of the Palestinian refugees first hand, cannot sympatize with them for fear of being regarded as pro Palestinian which I guess would make us anti semites. God forbid.
16 January 2013, 20:28
00
My comments were a reply to kiserwenimoughdaram but his comment is removed now.
16 January 2013, 11:02
02
Just because US celebreties are to coward to support anyone that their AIPAC-occupied government doesnt approve of supporting, it doesnt mean "nobody cares" about the Pals. John didnt say we shouldnt care about the syrian people (in fact he has defended them when lebanese post racist comments about them), he simply pointed out the hypocrisy of US celebs, thats all. The US doesnt give a damn about the syrian or palestinian or lebanese people, all they care about is punishing bashar, but not enough to bring him down as they dont want him replaced unless its with someone who will harm Syrians and keep israel safe like he has done while at the same time obeying the US more than what bashar does. All of the fake support for the refugees is nothing but a way for hypocrites to settle scores with bashar and not actual care for the refugees.
16 January 2013, 11:08
02
Sadly, this is the case even in lebanon and naharnet. You see someone post "support" for the refugees in one comment and then in another one he is cursing the day God created syrians. His so called support for them was only a weapon against bashar. True supporters of the syrian people/refugees are those who stand by them for love and not bcuz they simply want to settle scores with bashar. While john has shown support for the syrians even before the revolution started (at least here on naharnet) and has spoken up against racism against syrians both by march14 and march8, people like you have been inciting against them and your so called support is nothing but actual hate. Your simply using the enemy of enemy is my friend formula which means you take a temporary ally that you also hate, use him against someone you hate more and then return to being his enemy after your done with him. Thats not support FYI, unless you thought you were fooling someone.
16 January 2013, 11:23
02
Oh and just because one doesnt fall for your fake support for the syrian refugees, it doesnt mean one supports bashar. May he fall and be humiliated for all the harm he has caused. This is the worst thing we can say in lebanon because march 14 doesnt want anyone exposing their fake support for being what it really is and march8 dont want anyone wishing for the fall of bashar. Unfortunatly, lebanon has a shortage of people who think straight. We are supposed to hate syrians yet chose one side to hate more than the other and use it against the other. Its never about actually loving or supporting syrians. I used to be so proud of being lebanese when i was younger and now after seeing things clearly that i couldnt comprehend as a teenager, i am disgusted with my former pride of something that never deserved it.
