Independent
The violence in Syria has spilled some 4.5 million refugees into neighboring Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon – the latter is hosting almost a quarter of the total number of people.
Lebanon's 1.1 million Syrian refugees are scattered across the country, scraping together enough work to pay for the barest of their necessities, and only 30 per cent of children are able to go to school.
Conditions in Lebanon’s 12 official refugee camps, originally opened for Palestinians, are steadily worsening as the country crawls along at a snail’s pace in the construction of more formal camps to provide drinking water, plumbing and regular electricity.
The crisis is hardest on the young, who shoulder the heavy burden by taking up work in an effort to make ends meet:
Mohammed Hassan, is an eight-year-old Syrian refugee who, along with his family fled from Idlib, Syria. He works at a market in the Palestinian refugee camp of Sabra in Beirut
This is Ahmed Abrouch who, at eight years old, sells flowers by the seafront in Beirut. Ahmed and his family fled from prosecution from Aleppo, Syria.
Eight-year-old Nermin Abrouch also makes her living selling flowers by the waterfront in Beirut. Nermin and her family fled from Aleppo, Syria
Ali Hamadah sells tissues to drivers in Beirut. Ali and his family fled from Aleppo, Syria.
This young Syrian refugee works as a mechanic in a town called Taanayel, in Lebanon
Ali Rajab works on his feet for an average of 12 hours a day. He fills bottles of perfume, cleans, and sells mobile phone s in a shop in Beirut. Ali is 13 years old, and has been working since he fled Aleppo with his parents and six brothers and sisters, two years ago.
Ibrahim al-Abd works trimming plants on the streets of Beirut after he fled Deir el-Zour, Syria, with his family. Ibrahim is 15 years old.
In the UK, David Cameron has pledged to give homes to 20,000 refugees over the next five years, which has been criticised as inadequate.
The first 18 months of the special Syrian resettlement scheme (from 2014 onwards) only managed to rehome 200 people.