Actress Angelina Jolie visited thousands of displaced Syrian children in Lebanon this weekend.
In a surprise three-day visit, Jolie, who is also a U.N. special
envoy for refugee services, spent time with 3,500 orphaned and displaced
children living in the eastern Bekaa Valley of Lebanon. Children make
up an estimated one-third of all Syrians displaced by the fighting
between President Bashar Assad’s government and opposition rebels over
the last three years, the Associated Press reports.
‘‘Meeting these children was a heart-rending experience,’’ Jolie said
in a statement. ‘‘They have lost their families and their childhood has
been hijacked by war. They are so young, yet they are bearing the
burdens of their reality as if they are adults.’’
The U.N. estimates that the number of Syrian refugees and displaced
persons add up to about one-third of Syria’s pre-war population. An
estimated 2.5 million Syrians are refugees and 4.2 million are
displaced.
posted by Emanto Ngaloru Feb 24, 2014.