The current conflict in Syria-between the government forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and various rebel groups-has displaced over four million refugees, most of whom have fled into neighboring countries; in particular, Turkey and Lebanon have borne the brunt of the crisis, with over a million refugees in various camps within those countries.
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Education minister Elias Bou Saab suggested that as many as 2% – one in 50 – of the refugees could be “radicals”, which he said would be “more than enough” to cause problems.
We’ve seen sporadic headlines all year about the Syrian migrant crisis, but it was not until the images captured on the coast of Turkey of a 3-year-old boy face down in the water, dead, appeared that the world finally stopped ignoring it.
Earlier this month, the United Nations food agency said it had ceased assistance to 229,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan because of a lack of funds.
“I would encourage others to step up to the plate and spend and invest in the way Britain has done”, said Cameron. The refugee crisis has been met with outright racism by some and that can’t be tolerated.
‘We had them in camps in Lebanon and we were taking care (of them) and all of a sudden they came out of the camps, they went against the army, they kidnapped the soldiers and they took them to the mountains’.
When hundreds of thousands of Syrians flee their country to escape death from shelling, bombings or beheadings and risk drowning, rape, robbery or torture by smugglers in order to reach Europe, the alarm bell cannot be louder. For instance, Germany, a country of more than 80 million people, has indicated it could admit 800,000 refugees, many of them from Syria. Today the Islamic State group controls almost half the country.
He called on Britain to give them a “warm welcome”, saying the offer of sanctuary was “something the whole country can be proud of”.
He announced he was appointing Watford MP Richard Harrington as minister for Syrian refugees to oversee the operation to welcome the new arrivals to the United Kingdom over the next five years.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, left, shakes hands with his Lebanese counterpart, Tammam Salam, on his arrival to the Lebanese Government House, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, September 14, 2015.
And in Beirut, Cameron said Britain was doubling its support for Lebanon’s schools to 20 million pounds a year for the next three years to help them teach Syrian refugee children as well as Lebanese.
Britain is spending £1bn in camps neighbouring Syria, including £300m in Lebanon.
Mr Cameron held talks with King Abdullah in the Jordanian monarch’s palace in capital Amman. Unal said Turkish authorities were trying to stop people reaching Europe.
After his visit to Za’atari, Cameron tweeted a photo with a boy who lost a leg during a barrel bomb attack on his city. The boy – wearing a Barcelona shirt and a prosthetic leg – told the PM he had been living in the camp with his father for nine months but wanted to return home to Syria.
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British Prime Minister David Cameron urged the worldwide community on Monday to send more aid to Syrian refugees in Middle Eastern host countries as a way of stemming mass migration to Europe.
