AMMAN: His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal, honorary president of the World Refugee and Migration Council, and Lloyd Axworthy, the council's chair, released a statement Wednesday highlighting the dire humanitarian situation in Lebanon. The statement comes in response to the displacement of 740,000 people amid escalating war in the region. According to Jordan News Agency, the joint statement calls for urgent global intervention, stressing the importance of providing care and protection to those displaced and enforcing international humanitarian laws to shield civilians from the conflict's most devastating effects. They emphasized that Lebanon's ongoing instability severely hinders efforts to achieve long-term peace and regional security. Lebanon is facing a severe humanitarian crisis, and the international community must respond with urgency. The displaced are in desperate need of shelter, food, and medical care, while the local population, already reeling from years of economic instability, is bea ring the brunt of the crisis. Lebanon, which has been grappling with economic collapse since 2019, is now facing an unprecedented wave of displacement, further destabilizing the country. With its population swelling to 5.7 million, the humanitarian need has surged, as the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) has risen tenfold in the past year. This has placed immense pressure on Lebanon's already fragile infrastructure and limited resources, leading to skyrocketing prices and widespread shortages of essential goods and services. Humanitarian agencies, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), are scrambling to provide relief, but the sheer scale of the crisis requires immediate international support. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the number of IDPs has surged from 74,000 to 740,000 in recent months, leaving both the displaced and local communities struggling to survive. Prince El Hassan and Axworthy pointed to the ongoing enforcement fai lure of long-standing international resolutions, including United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. They stressed that the failure to implement these resolutions continues to fuel instability and conflict, compounding the humanitarian crisis in the region. Lebanon's fragile economy cannot sustain the additional burden of hundreds of thousands of displaced people. The country's infrastructure is buckling under the strain, and unless immediate international assistance is provided, we risk a complete collapse of essential services, they warned. The statement also condemned recent attacks on United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeepers and aid workers, calling such acts a violation of international law and a direct threat to global efforts to safeguard human lives in conflict zones. Targeting humanitarian and peacekeeping personnel is an assault on the very principles of humanity, the statement emphasized, referencing the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions, which mandat es protection for civilian medical personnel and the provision of necessary assistance in combat-affected areas. The blatant disregard for international humanitarian law is alarming and must be addressed by the global community. In reflecting on the deteriorating international norms and humanitarian principles, the statement drew attention to the broader global trend of eroding respect for international law. The founders of the Independent Commission on International Humanitarian Issues (ICIHI), established in the 1980s, envisioned a world where international humanitarian law would be upheld in conflict zones. However, the crisis in Lebanon, they argued, exemplifies how far the world has strayed from these ideals. The situation in Lebanon serves as a tragic reminder that humanitarian principles are being disregarded in today's conflicts. The international community must act swiftly to enforce international law, protect civilians, and provide much-needed assistance to Lebanon and its displaced populations, t hey urged. As the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon worsens, both Prince El Hassan and Axworthy reiterated their call for immediate and decisive action from the international community, warning that without such intervention, the consequences for Lebanon and the region could be catastrophic.