Lebanon and Syria in 'triple emergency'_ IRC president

More than a million people have been displaced by the war in Lebanon,

many are children, and some are finding small relief through art.

Taking part in drawing sessions at a school-turned shelter,

the initiative is helping kids to express their trauma,

following more than a month of violence between Israel and Hezbollah.

Organizers say the activity offers a sense of stability amid an ever-escalating humanitarian crisis.

For most people there, though, it is a very dire picture.

The International Rescue Committee has scaled up its humanitarian operations in Lebanon,

since Israel launched its offensive.

The IRC president, David Miloban, just returned from the country.

He joins me now. David Miloban, good morning to you.

Good morning, David. Good to be with you.

You are calling this a triple emergency. Take me through what that means.

First of all, there's the direct impact of the wars in Iran and in Lebanon.

As you said, over a million people directly displaced from their towns and villages in the south of Lebanon.

That means a quarter of the population have been displaced.

Secondly, there's the indirect effect.

We're all seeing that in our gas prices, but energy prices are up for everyone,

but it hits the poorest hardest and critically for the poorest,

including in countries like Lebanon that still has an important agricultural sector.

The blockage on fertilizer traffic through the straits of home mues

threatens to have devastating consequences.

The third element of the emergency is the wider

roiling of geopolitics that's consequent on these two wars in Iran and in Lebanon.

You're seeing Russia empowered, obviously,

through the boost of its budgets that has implications in Ukraine.

And the great fear for us as a humanitarian organization

is that the big global humanitarian crises,

like those in Sudan that you've covered,

that they don't get the kind of bandwidth and attention they need.

You're talking about Sudan, which may well be the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

And I would agree with you that it has been overshadowed by this large conflict with geopolitical

implications. I do wonder within the wars that are underway right now,

whether you worry that Lebanon itself, which is separate,

an Israeli-only operation against Hezbollah,

whether that itself is being mixed into or overshadowed

by the other events in the region.

I think you're absolutely right to fear that Lebanon gets dragged into a vortex

of conflict and instability. It's a vortex that it knows well.

Remember in November 2024, that's the last round of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.

This though looks different both in scale.

The million people display so far.

Secondly, in speed, just in four and a half weeks to have that number displaced.

And finally, in terms of intentions and the long-term nature of this,

I spoke to clients of the International Rescue Committee,

parents and kids, as well as staff members.

No one thinks this is going to be overfast.

And no one knows where the Lebanese who've been displaced are going to go.

You mentioned rightly that the government has provided some shelters.

That's only for 15% of the million people displaced.

So you have across the country people in on floors of relatives, friends.

You have a few people still thousands.

There's single-digit thousands in tents in Beirut.

And so the consequences for the country,

which last year was beginning a recovery, a very serious indeed.

Israel now seems intent on keeping a buffer zone in place on Lebanese territory.

They've moved their military units up to just south of the Latani river.

That is where people lived.

Where do those people go to now?

Well, that's exactly the right question.

I had the chance to meet your very impressive Canadian ambassador

in Beirut on Wednesday.

And it's the internal questions that are being raised by this.

That are obviously very serious indeed.

We've had some in the Israeli government talking about a Gaza model in Lebanon.

That's obviously terrifying because the towns and villages that are occupied

by people in the south of the country,

are places they've lived for hundreds of years.

These are generations.

I met a man who was a baker.

He ran a bakery on the border.

It was bombed in November 2024.

So he moved to Tyre on the coast a bit further north.

He's now been moved again by military action.

And what we did learn from the last Israeli occupation of Lebanon

between 1982 and 2000, that's 18 years,

that occupation was not a durable solution.

It was damaging for Lebanon.

It was damaging for Israel too.

And so the calls for a de-escalation that are being made by political figures

are matched on the humanitarian side by concern for the consequences.

There are a huge number of Canadian citizens who live in Lebanon

and many in this country who have connections to Lebanon.

What can a country like Canada do in a moment like this

that will ease some of the humanitarian challenges?

Well, this is exactly what I discussed with your ambassador.

We need to help Lebanon build the shock absorbers,

reinforce the shock absorbers.

So first of all, there's an aid appeal

from the United Nations at the moment.

It's only one-third funded.

So there's a massive funding gap.

And we know that failing to address humanitarian need

has a devastating impact on political,

it's a driver of political instability.

So there's a money element.

Secondly, there's a question of support for the government

of Lebanon.

It's a new government that in 2025 established itself

with credibility and legitimacy that hadn't existed before.

I think that's an important relationship

that Canada and Canadians have.

Thirdly, the diaspora that you rightly refer to,

there's an important support element.

There are many Lebanese are asking whether they've got a future

in the country and it's desperately important

that they do.

It's a sovereign country.

It's an important country.

It can't afford to go into the vortex of conflict and instability

again that I described earlier.

David Miliband, very much appreciate your time.

Thank you.

Thanks for your time.