Heartbreaking. I am originally Lebanese. I was born there and left in 1983 at age 13. I lived a good portion of the civil war (1975-1991), with brief stints In London for 1 year at outbreak of war in 1975 and 3 months in Greece in 1982. I saw many displaced ethnic groups within Lebanon as well as semi-permanent Palestinian refugee camps set up since 1948 and again in 1967. The devastation that war causes on society, on the individual's psyche, on families who experience unthinkable tragic losses, on the civic and social structures that bind communities together, and on basic civil rights like the right to have access to food, shelter, medical access, education for one's children, and the right to earn a living is devastating beyond anything that can be put into words. Those who are lucky to leave and start new lives are few relative to the millions who have to stay behind because they do not have the means to flee their tragic circumstances.
The breakdowns in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria have wrought so much destruction, pain and tragedy to so many millions of people and it is hard to see an end to any of it any time soon. In the case of Lebanon, the war ended as the sectarian parties to the fighting along with the Lebanese populace at large were just exhausted from 16 years of unabated conflict, destruction, and a sense of hopelessness. Unfortunately in Syria and Iraq, with the added fuel to the fire that is ISIS, it is hard to see an end to the underlying fighting indigenous factions. I am very pessimistic unfortunately about the entire region and am heart broken for it's people who are the ultimate victims of this senseless violence.
