Project

The war in Syria is a tragedy with enormous proportions. Syrians are the largest refugee population in the world. Many of them fled to Lebanon (whose population is 4.5 mln): more than 1.2 mln are officially registered by UNHCR, but currently the real number is estimated in more than 1.5 mln.

Operazione Colomba in Lebanon-Syria

Operazione Colomba (OC) has been operating in Lebanon since September 2013. In April 2014 the volunteers settled in a refugee camp in the village of Tel Abbas which is located 5 km far from the Syrian border. The refugees explicitly requested the presence of OC in the camp after suffering threats, physical assaults, evictions and tents burnt. OC is an effective deterrent for violence. In all these years, OC volunteers have been living in the same refugee camp but the people settled there are continuously changing. They live in a wood and plastic tent, sharing the hard daily life with the Syrians. Moreover they try to build bridges of dialogue between the local scared and sometimes hostile Lebanese population and the Syrians.

Activities

Volunteers spend most of their days visiting and listening to people, helping the refugees in obtaining aids and services (especially medical cares) and accompanying them as a civilian patrol. Since 2016 OC has been cooperating to implement humanitarian corridors that have brought to Italy 2.500 people among the most vulnerable Syrians. OC has committed to spread the voice of the Syrian civil society, which is asking for peace, justice and the right to a safe return to Syria. OC brings these requests, through the Peace Proposal “We the Syrians”, to the highest international institutions and during the peace talks.