Damascus, Syria, Mar 15, 2014 / 06:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As today marks the third anniversary of uprisings which led to civil war in Syria, Catholic leaders there and in neighboring Lebanon have reflected on its devastating effect on both countries. “It creates a huge impact on (the Lebanese) in all aspects, and in terms of security issues…it's had a huge impact,” Wadih Daher, assistant to Archbishop Issam John Darwish, told CNA in a March 13 interview. Daher spoke on behalf of the bishop, who leads the Melkite Greek Archeparchy of Furzol, Zahle and the Bekaa, on Lebanon's border with Syria.

Conflict began March 15, 2011, when demonstrations protesting the rule of president Bashar al-Assad and his Ba'ath Party sprang up nationwide. The following month, the Syrian army began to deploy to put down the uprisings, firing on protesters. Now, three years on, an estimated 140,000 persons have died in what has become a civil war. The U.N. quit counting the bodies last July, leaving its estimates at 100,000, saying it could no longer verify its sources.

Because of the civil war, half of Syria's population have fled their homes. 6.5 million Syrians are believed to have been internally displaced by the war, and there are 2.5 million Syrian refugees living in nearby countries, most of them in Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan. Of those 2.5 million, more than 1 million are in Lebanon, a country whose population, three years ago, was slightly over 4 million. Now, one in every five residents of Lebanon is a refugee from Syria.