Special envoy Angelina Jolie visits Syrian refugees

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UN special envoy and actress Angelina Jolie visited Syrian refugees in Lebanon on Wednesday (September 12th), a day after she visited a refugee camp in Jordan.

Jolie said she was moved by how Lebanese families were opening their homes to Syria refugees.

"I know the Lebanese people themselves are dealing with their own problems, their own economy, so it is all the more meaningful that they are so generous and kind and I hope the world acknowledges that," she said.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres accompanied Jolie and called for international support to help Lebanon cope with the influx of refugees. Lebanon currently hosts 66,000 registered Syrian refugees, while many more may be living in the country unregistered, UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said.

"We have huge numbers of families who are hosting refugees for nothing, which in the long term is very unsustainable," Fleming said.

While visiting a refugee camp in Jordan on Tuesday, Jolie urged the world to help Syrians fleeing the conflict in their country.

"We encourage the international community to do everything they can to support these refugees, and there is much to be done," Jolie told a news conference at Zaatari refugee camp, 85 kilometres north of Amman.

Jolie will travel to Turkey on Thursday to visit refugee camps near the border with Syria, AFP reported.

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    عبد الحميد علي شعبان

    2012-9-16

    The Arab governments must help and support the Syrians, and the Syrian refugees who ask for support. It is disgraceful that our governments still remain silent at what is taking place in Syria by the tyrant Bashaar who violates the human rights of his own people. Thus, the Arab governments and their peoples also must do all their best to support the Syrians until they finish him or make the tyrant give in. The age of corruption must end, not only in Syria, but also in the whole Arab region. The Arabs must unite their interests and no Arab country should oppose the other.

  • حسني انيس

    2012-9-13

    The countries that share borders with Syria should provide support for and accommodate the Syrian refugees, and they have to facilitate them and set up areas for them on the Syrian border in order to provide them with services, and they have to collect donations and humanitarian aids so that the Syrian refugees can receive them. In the same context, all the needs of the Syrian refugees should be met, and they should be provided with all their necessities so that they can make it through the harsh living conditions that they are in, and the Arab countries have to support the Syrian refugees from the beginning and extend a helping hand to them, as they are our brothers, and we should be the first to stand beside them as they are in dire need of such assistance so that they can feel that we are brothers not only in times of ease but also in difficult times, and not just on paper or in words only. Also, business people should offer all they can to the Syrian refugees so that they feel that it’s not just the governments that care about them and that their peoples are raising their voices in support of them and extending a helping hand to them. Anyone that is able to offer support should come forward and not remain silent and idle, as the time has come for the Arabs to demonstrate that their kinship is one that is firm and strong.

  • اديب محمد

    2012-9-13

    I make an appeal to the Arab governments to make efforts in order to extend a helping hand to the Syrian refugees, especially in the wake of the crisis that they are enduring and the loss of any hope for the aid initiatives to successfully reach Syria, and as such the Arab governments are required to work together as well as in their own capacities in order to protect the Syrian refugees from what they are being subjected to, especially on the borders of the Arab countries that have taken a strict position against the Syrian refugees as a result of their inclination towards the ruling regime in Syria. The Arab countries are required to provide material support and humanitarian aid to the Syrian refugees, and to help them in all that they need in terms of real assistance. All the countries that have the capabilities should organize interviews and forums in order to discuss the problems faced by the Syrian refugees and the solutions for them.

  • عبد الله صبيح

    2012-9-13

    Perhaps our words reach our goal in the ears of every Arab, which is the protection of the Syrian refugees and opening our hearts and our homes to them. All the Syrian people are a people with pride and honor, and they know it. If the time came and it fell into a crisis at the hands of Bashar al-Assad and his injustice toward the Syrian people, we all must – which represents the body, in that if one organ gets infected, the rest of the body feels sick – help the Syrian refugees. We must open the doors and borders, and give the Syrian refugees complete rights, like those that were taken in his country, but even more. The Arab obligation of hospitality has characterized Arabs since ancient times, and we all know that among the refugees are those who are infected or sick, old men or those who are psychologically frustrated. We appeal to all ministries of health in the Arab countries to support the Syrian refugees with all treatments and first aid, if this refugee resides on the land of the ministry, or to send a medical aircraft to Syrian refugees in the country in which they obtained refuge. Open the doors of education to all students who are refugees from Syria, so they do not miss out on life and education, in order to catch the train of education, so we do not have an ignorant, illiterate generation of people arise, who are known for the extent of their culture and promoted education. We are Arabs and we must assist the Syrian refugees until their plight is eased. It is not limited to those who are involved with the Syrian borders, but it is more general and most comprehensive to have every Arab state - government and people – to be interested, because what Syria has today, the eyes in anther Arab country may see.