Photo: Daily Star

“The bed capacity of all government hospitals in Lebanon is exhausted,” UNHCR Communications Officer Roberta Russo told me today.

“There’s no where to put people any more.”

Russo said the UNHCR was trying to bring in temporary mattresses, but funding for aid efforts has fallen very short.

Health care is one of the many ways in which the Syrian refugee crisis is pushing the limits of an already dysfunctional Lebanese state and its dilapidated public services. Some 3,000 Syrians are pouring into Lebanon every day.

The Beirut UNHCR office is preparing to process an additional 100,000 refugees in case of a mass exodus following the threat of US military action. But so far “there’s been no significant impact” at the borders, she said.

More staggering statistics at the UN agency’s live information page on its efforts in Lebanon. 

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