BAB AL-TABBANEH, Lebanon — In just one year, the number of people uprooted from their homes due to war and forced displacement has increased worldwide from 50 million to 60 million — an average of 42,500 individuals per day, enough to form the world's 24th largest country. The United Nations issued news of this staggering increase June 19, a day before World Refugee Day. These numbers exceed those of the post-World War II era and mark the largest humanitarian crisis since the Holocaust.

The large increase is primarily driven by the war in Syria, a country that until a few years ago had been the world’s second-largest refugee host country. Today, the heavy burden of the refugee crisis is not exclusive to the Syrian people, but is deeply felt among the communities hosting their vulnerable neighbors. These host communities have themselves sometimes endured years of sectarian violence, war and poverty, such as those in Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey.

Tripoli is the second-largest city in Lebanon and is predominantly Sunni. The majority of its people live in severe poverty and face ongoing sectarian violence between its Sunni and Shiite populations, which are primarily divided between Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen, respectively.

Chadi Nachabe, co-founder and president of the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Utopia, told Al-Monitor, “Today in Lebanon, we have more issues as a result of the Syrian war. On the one hand, we have the Syrian refugees who are living among the desperate communities in Lebanon, like those in Tripoli, and on the other hand, we have extra fuel added to the violence that’s now reignited between the Lebanese Sunnis and the Syrian Alawites, on top of the already existing sectarian conflict between the Lebanese Sunnis and Lebanese Shiites. It’s a mess.” Nachabe's Tripoli-based nonprofit relies on volunteers and is dedicated to abolishing a variety of social maladies through youth empowerment, advocacy and socio-cultural initiatives to help Syrian refugees as well as their Lebanese hosts.