Berri Urges World to Help Lebanon Cope with Syrian Refugee Crisis

Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday called on the international community to help Lebanon cope with the Syrian refugee crisis.

Representing the Lebanese and Arab parliaments at the 135 session of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva, Berri called for “a fair solution for the Palestinian cause,” urging parliaments to contribute to “facing terror and drying up its funding; creating political solutions to the Syrian crisis and the region's problems; and helping Lebanon confront the refugee crisis.”

“I call on you to support Lebanon at all forums so that it can confront the crises resulting from the presence of refugees whose numbers are equivalent to half its population,” Berri added.

Lebanon has struggled to deal with an influx of refugees that now represents around half of its four-million-strong population, and last year began making it harder for Syrian refugees to stay.

More than 300,000 people have been killed in Syria and more than half of the country's population displaced since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.