![\"syria-crisis\"](\"http:\/\/thisisbanter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/syria-crisis.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAs the fighting has intensified, the humanitarian crisis has grown and has alerted the world beyond Syria\u2019s borders to what\u2019s happening within. Over five\u00a0million people are believed to have fled the country since the start of the war, most of them women and children. Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey have\u00a0struggled to cope with one of the largest refugee exoduses in history and about one in ten Syrian refugees have sought safety in Europe, leading to the\u00a0tragic scenes over the last year of people drowning on European shores. These are people who five years ago were happily living in Syrian cities like\u00a0Aleppo, Al-Raqqah and Homs, cities which have now been virtually destroyed in the conflict.<\/p>\n
Banter on Syria<\/strong> has invited a number of interested parties\u00a0along to discuss the lessons of the last five years. International aid organisation GOAL<\/a>‘s chief executive\u00a0Barry Andrews<\/a>, \u00a0M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res Ireland<\/a>\u00a0director\u00a0Jane-Ann McKenna<\/a> and author of My Home is Your Home:\u00a0A Journey round Syria\u00a0and travel writer Mary Russell<\/a> will talk about the human and\u00a0cultural cost of the conflict, the current state of play as they see it, their fears about what\u2019s yet to come and what can be done to bring about some\u00a0semblance of relief from a conflict which seems both senseless and without end.<\/p>\n The small print<\/strong>: Banter on Syria will take place at MVP<\/a> (Clanbrassil St., Dublin 8 ) on Wednesday March 9. Doors open at 6pm and the discussion, which <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s five years since civil war broke out in Syria. During those five years, the country has been torn apart by tragedy and chaos. Hundreds of thousands of Syrian people have been killed and millions more have been displaced in the brutal conflict between Assad and those opposed to his rule – not to mention … <\/p>\n
\nwill be followed by an audience Q&A, will commence at 6.30pm. Tickets can be booked here<\/a>.<\/p>\n