The Trump administration’s recent announcement that it will create safe zones in Syria as an alternative to admitting refugees is welcome news to all who seek to protect innocent civilians and move towards a solution to a conflict which has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced millions.
The creation of safe zones for vulnerable civilian populations in Syria is an important first step toward ending the conflict in Syria. The refugee crisis was only widely reported on when the refugees began arriving in Europe, a little more than a year ago, though the situation had already begun to push the limits in the nations bordering Syria, such as Lebanon and Jordan.
Both Lebanon and Jordan have welcomed millions of Syrian refugees over the past six years. The influx of more than 1.5 million refugees into Lebanon, a country slightly smaller than the state of Connecticut and with a population of 4 million, has put massive strain on its economy. Lebanon itself suffered from a brutal civil war in the 1980s that tore the country apart along religious lines, and is still recovering. If Syrian refugees, the majority of whom are Sunni Muslim, remain in Lebanon much longer then the country’s economy and its social institutions will crumble, plunging another Middle Eastern country into chaos.
The Lebanese military, financially backed by the United States, is regularly engaged in conflict with the Islamic State along Lebanon’s border with Syria. It’s also had to contend with issues arising from refugee camps, where violent extremists are often able to exploit and recruit victims and threaten Lebanon’s delicate balance between different Christian and Muslim sects.
Lebanon has the highest percentage of Christians in the Middle East, and is a unique multi-confessional society and a model of pluralism in the region. Jordan, a key United States ally in the Middle East and a country that already hosts more than 2 million Palestinian refugees, has also buckled under the strain of more than 1 million Syrian refugees. A deteriorating security situation in Jordan spells trouble for the region and is a direct threat to U.S. national security.
Refugee camps have historically been breeding grounds for violent extremism. The global indifference to the plight of Syrian refugees ignores a more serious long-term problem for short-term expedience and convenience.
Syria is a perfect example of where U.S. humanitarian and national security interests meet.
It’s in U.S. interests that conflict in Syria concludes and that millions of Syrian refugees across Europe and the Middle East be allowed to return home and be protected from both the Islamic State and the regime of Syrian leader Bashar Assad. While the particulars of the safe zone have yet to be spelled out by the Trump administration, the Pentagon and the State Department, it is expected that the nations of the Middle East will bear a significant part of the burden of creating and protecting safe zones.
Safe zones should not be regarded as ends in and of themselves, but as part of the larger strategy to end the conflict in Syria, repatriate civilians, reconcile communities, and begin the process of rebuilding Syrian society.
Philippe Nassif is the executive director of In Defense of Christians. If you would like to write an op-ed for the Washington Examiner, please read our guidelines on submissions here.
