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Lebanon and Syria in 'triple emergency'_ IRC president · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: More than a million people have been displaced by the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: war in Lebanon. Many are children, and some are finding
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: small relief through art. Were taking part in drawing sessions
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: at a school turned shelter. The initiative is helping kids
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: to express their trauma following more than a month of
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: violence between Israel and Husbalah. Organizers say the activity offers
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: a sense of stability amid an ever escalating humanitarian crisis
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  Speaker 1: for most people there, though it is a very dire picture.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: The International Rescue Committee has scaled up its humanitarian operations
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: in Lebanon since Israel launched its offensive. The IRC president
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: David Milliban, just returned from the country. He joins me, now,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: David Milliban, good morning to you.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, David. Good to be with him.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: You are calling this a triple emergency. Take me through
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  Speaker 1: what that means.
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  Speaker 2: First of all, there's the direct impact of the wars
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: in Iran and in Lebanon. As you said, over a
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: million people directly displaced from their towns and villages in
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: the south of Lebanon. That means a quarter of the
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: population have been displaced. Secondly, there's the indirect effect. We're
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: all seeing that in our gas prices, but energy prices
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  Speaker 2: are up for everyone, but it hits the poorest hardest,
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  Speaker 2: and critically for the poorest, including in countries like Lebanon
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  Speaker 2: that still has an important agricultural sector. The blockage on
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: fertilizer traffic through the Straits of Hormuz threatens to have
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  Speaker 2: devastating consequences. The third element of the emergency is the
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  Speaker 2: wider roiling of geopolitics that's consequent on this. On these
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  Speaker 2: two wars in Iran and in Lebanon, you're seeing Russia
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  Speaker 2: empowered obviously through the boost of its budgets. That has
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: implications in Ukraine. And the great fear for US as
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  Speaker 2: a humanitarian organization is that the big global humanitarian crises
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  Speaker 2: like those in Sudan that you've covered, that they don't
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  Speaker 2: get the kind of bandwidth and attention they need.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: You talk about Sudan, which may well be the world's
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  Speaker 1: worst humanitarian crisis, and I would agree with you that
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: it is. It has been overshadowed by this large conflict
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  Speaker 1: with geopolitical implications. I do wonder within the wars that
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: are underway right now, whether you worry that Lebanon itself,
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  Speaker 1: which is separate and Israeli only operation against Hezbollah, whether
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  Speaker 1: that itself is being mixed into or overshadowed by the
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  Speaker 1: other events in the region, I.
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  Speaker 2: Think you're absolutely right to fear that Lebanon gets dragged
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  Speaker 2: into a vortex of conflict and instability. It's a vortex
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  Speaker 2: that it knows well. Remember in November twenty twenty four,
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  Speaker 2: that's the last round of fighting between Hesbulah and Israel.
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  Speaker 2: This though, looks different, both in scale the million people
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  Speaker 2: displaced so far, secondly in speed just in four and
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: a half weeks to have that number displaced, And finally,
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  Speaker 2: in terms of intentions and the long term nature of this.
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  Speaker 2: I spoke to clients of the International Rescue Committee, parents
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  Speaker 2: and kids, as well as staff members. One thinks this
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: is going to be over fast, and no one knows
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  Speaker 2: where the Lebanese who've been displaced are going to go.
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  Speaker 2: You mentioned rightly that the government has provided some shelters.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: That's only for fifteen percent of the million people displaced.
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  Speaker 2: So you have across the country people on floors of
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  Speaker 2: relatives friends. You have a few people still thousands, single
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  Speaker 2: digit thousands intents in Beirut, and so the consequences for
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  Speaker 2: the country, which last year was beginning a recovery are
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: very serious.
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  Speaker 1: Indeed, Israel now seems intent on keeping a buffer zone
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  Speaker 1: in place on Lebanese territory. They've moved their military units
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  Speaker 1: up to just south of the Latani River, that is
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: where people lived. Where do those people go to now.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Well, that's exactly the right question. I had the chance
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  Speaker 2: to meet your very impressive Canadian ambassador in Beirut on Wednesday,
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  Speaker 2: and it's the internal questions that are being raised by
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: this that are obviously very serious. Indeed, we've had some
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: in the israel government talking about a gaza model in Lebanon.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: That's obviously terrifying because the towns and villages that are
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  Speaker 2: occupied in by people in the south of the country
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  Speaker 2: are places they've lived for hundreds of years. These are generations.
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  Speaker 2: I met a man who was a baker. He ran
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  Speaker 2: a bakery on the border. It was bombed in November
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty four, so he moved to Tire on the
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  Speaker 2: coast a bit further north. He's now been moved again
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  Speaker 2: by military action. And what we did learn from the
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  Speaker 2: last Israeli occupation of Lebanon between nineteen eighty two and
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  Speaker 2: two thousand that's eighteen years. That occupation was not a
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  Speaker 2: durable solution. It was damaging for Lebanon. It was damaging
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  Speaker 2: for Israel too, and so the calls for a de
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: escalation that are being made by political figures are matched
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  Speaker 2: on the humanitarian side by concern for the consequences.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: There are a huge number of Canadian citizens who live
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  Speaker 1: in Lebanon, and many in this country who have connections
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  Speaker 1: to Lebanon. What can a country like Canada do in
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  Speaker 1: a moment like this that will ease some of the
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  Speaker 1: humanitarian challenges.
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  Speaker 2: Well, this is exactly what I discussed with your ambassador.
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  Speaker 2: We need to help Lebanon build the shock absorbers, reinforce
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  Speaker 2: the shock absorbers. So first of all, there's an aid
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  Speaker 2: appeal from the United Nations. At the moment, it's only
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  Speaker 2: one third funded, so there's a massive funding gap. And
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  Speaker 2: we know that failing to address humanitarian need has a
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  Speaker 2: devastating impact on political It's a driver of political instability,
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  Speaker 2: so there's a money element. The secondly, there's a question
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  Speaker 2: of support for the government of Lebanon. It's a new
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  Speaker 2: government that in twenty twenty five established itself with credibility
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  Speaker 2: and legitimacy. That hadn't existed before. I think that's an
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  Speaker 2: important relationship that Canada and Canadians have. Thirdly, the diasper
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: that you rightly refer to, there's an important support element there.
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  Speaker 2: Many Lebanese are asking whether they've got a future in
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  Speaker 2: the country, and it's desperately important that they do. It's
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  Speaker 2: a sovereign country country. It can't afford to go into
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: the vortex of conflict and instability again that I described earlier.
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  Speaker 1: David Milliban very much appreciate your time.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Thanks for your time.